Your name and work or occupation
J. Edward Tremlett. I'm a writer, currently employed as a Library
Asst. at the American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
How did you met rpg's ?
Some of my friends had Dungeons and Dragons when I was... oh... maybe
sevenor eight. We'd play them and design our own D6-based games.
Do you remember your first
role session? Vaguely. I think we were killing Kua-Tuas.
What was the first game
you played? Killing Kua-Tuas.
Which is your best memory
from this session? That it happened at all.
Which is the worst? That I can't
remember.
What percent of your friends
play role games? Sheeee-it. Probably 95%.
What do you like about RPGs?
What's not to like? Being able to be someone different, someone special,
having an adventure you can walk away from even if your character
doesn't...
What don't you like?
Badly-run ones.
What do you like about role
players? We're imaginative, creative and just a little
goofy.
What don't you like?
Munchkins, Twinks, bullies and crybabies.
What good things has the
role games brought to your life? Lots of neat friends,
lots of chances to exercise my imagination.
What negative things?
Minor frustrations and a lot of money spent.
What do you think about
the stigm of "satanism" which sometimes have the RPGs? I
try not to think about it much at all, really. It's just another obnoxious
attempt for social control by people who should really get their own
lives in order before ordering around the lives of others.
Why and how did you began
to be a storyteller ? Storyteller or GM in general? I started
being a Keeper for Call of Cthulhu... oh... eleven years ago. I started
Sting WOD games maybe six years ago. With CoC it was because I loved
the game and the guy who'd got me into it had moved away. With V:DA
it was because I had a burning idea to try something, and I'd loved
the mixed-WOD game I'd been in.
With which game?
Call of Cthulhu. First WOD game was Vampire: the Dark Ages
How was this first time?
The first CoC was sloppy and nervous. The first V:DA was pretty good,
but we never played more than the first session due to the group breaking
up.
What type of games do you
prefer now? Call of Cthulhu, Wraith, Delta Green, Wraith,
Mummy, Wraith, Wraith: the Great War, Wraith, Wraith, Wraith...
What do you direct actually?
I tend to run games where people have no idea what's going on in both
the personal, politicial and metaphysical sense. And that's Wraith.
What do you play actually?
Hyper-political types, stone-cold assassins or weirdoes. And that's
Vampire.
Which is the best RPG or
which are ? Why? Wraith, because it takes you both as low
and as high as you can get.
Which the worst? Why?
I'd rather not committ to saying anything like that, mostly because
while a game's writing may be poor and its system may be bad, its
central ideas can inspire a good GM to make a heaven out of its hell,
just as a bad GM could make a hell out of the best game ever made.
For example, I have had both some of the best times of my life, and
yet the worst times, playing a character in a D&D game: the DM
made all the difference.
Which game would you like
to play or to direct and you haven't been able to until the moment?
Demon: the Fallen. I need to get it, first.
Is there a Role Play culture
in your city? In Dubai? Hardly. I think there's lots of
RPers but few venues to meet and find one another comfortably. We're
lucky to have three people in our group.
Why do you think it?
This is a Muslim country, and they don't sell RPG material in the
stores. So
where are gamers going to meet? And how are they going to get their
stuff?
The role players are a disgregated
group? why is this way? or aren't they? DIsgregated? I'm
afraid I don't know the meaning of that word. But we are a group,
yes.
What do you know about the
role players in other cities of your country? of your continent? around
the world? Dubai - I know a few, and we're the only ones
who play. The Saudi pennensula (sp) - I think we're probably it, except
for some expats in other places. Around the world, I keep in touch
with many on various bulletin boards.
Why the RPGs don't have
the best image? Part of it's the fact that some branches
of Christianity will go looking for the Devil in all the wrong places.
Part of it's the fact that some gamers are fragile and take their
lives for no real good reason, at which point the previously-mentioned
Christians appear and call it the work of the Devil.
What motivated you to put
online a role website? Well, I didn't put it up, initially.
The other Deathlords did before I got involved. I came up afterward
and have webmastered the thing ever since.
Define your site please:
To quote our WHY page "Oblivion slowly pulls us all, despite
our best
efforts to avoid it. But with no way to stop Oblivion's deadly tug,
we sometimes lose those we cannot afford to lose. One such loss is
the demise of our beloved game, Wraith: the Oblivion.
"Here at The Wraith Project, it is our intent
to continue this wonderful game of heroism in the face of Oblivion
as an unofficial fan site. It is through the publication of on-line
NetBooks, as well as newsletters and articles, that we plan to continue
this great game.
"This site is run for fans, by fans, and as
such, we greatly value your input..."
Which were the original
objectives of your site? To provide a new metaplot, to
continue the game and to get wraith fans together.
Are all of them fulfilled?
Why do you think that it happens? Continue and game and get wraith
fans together, yes, and that's because we're there. Provide a new
metaplot, no, and I think that's because most of the original Deathlords
have left. Besides, if I may say so it's better to let people come
up with their own stuff.
Do you write for rpgs?,
draw?, other? I've had a few pieces - mostly Call of Cthulhu
- published in Pyramid Magazine and D20 magazine. That's about it
for a professional stance. However, you can find my art and writing
on Ex Libris Nocturnis, the Wraith Project, Shoggoth.net and a few
other places whose names I forget.
Two things which all role
players must know
#1: The Game Master is your friend, even when he's
your enemy.
#2: You are not as cool as you think you are.
Two things all role players
must avoid while playing
#1: Being a twink.
#2: Being obnoxious out-of-character.
Role players are principally
male? Why? this question is because looks like is this way here D&D
was marketted to hobby stores, and hobby stores tend to attract men
more than women. It's stuck as a "male" pasttime ever since.
From what age could girls
and boys start playing rpgs? Six? Seven? That's up to every
parent to decide, but that's when I started playing and I was okay
with it.
With what type of games?
Probably the fantasy stuff, first. That lends itself to a young mind
better. Once they get older they can get to more serious stuff. But,
again, that's for a parent to decide.
An anecdote from your life
in the RPGs. Just one? Damn...
Okay: When I was running Call of Cthulhu back in
college, the second time around, my group developed a ritual called
- for want of a better phrase - The Fuck Chant. I am, or so I am told,
still remembered at Ohio University because of this.
It started early on, when an NPC I was running was
losing his cool at what was going on in the city. He started yelling
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" and "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" and
so on. Then, one session in the same Investigation, the characters
went up against something nasty, and one of the players suddenly said
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" We all laughed.
But it stuck. As a result, every game session, whenever
a big battle or scary monster or horrible realization reared its head,
everyone would count to three, put their hands over their heads and
yell "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Of course, I encouraged this.
It became more elaborate: someone would inevitably
run and open the door to the room we were using so all the other gamers
in the place could hear it. Sometimes, one of the other gamers would
poke his head in the room and ask "Is everything alright?"
yeah, why? "I hadn't heard you guys yell 'Fuck,' yet." Oh,
that's later (I would say with a grin). I even got one when we were
next door to some stupid university program, but no one said anything.
And that is The Fuck Chant story.
Please a picture, image or avatar to illustrate your
interview.
Edward es el master de: The Wraith Project, (donde
la portada de diciembre del 2002 es de Yourmung, lamento la propaganda),
un gran sitio acerca de un gran juego. Si no has visitado su sitio
hazlo ahora en Wraith
Project, y no olvide firmar la petición para resucitar
el juego.
.
