# AMA with Monte Cook (Numenera, D&D, Monte Cook Games, Malhavoc Press)



## Monte At Home

Starting August 10, 2015, I will be holding an AMA right here on EN World! So, what would you guys like to talk about? 

Of interest to ENWorlders, I've been professionally designing games for 27 years, and have worked on Rolemaster, Champions, and D&D 2E, including Planescape, and a little Dark Sun and Forgotten Realms. I was a co-designer on D&D 3E, and worked for a time as lead designer on 5E. I am the designer of the award-winning Numenera and HeroClix, and co-designed the now (!) ENnie-award winning The Strange with Bruce Cordell and the upcoming No Thank You, Evil! with Shanna Germain. I also just got inducted into the Academy of Adventure Design's Hall of Fame, which was a big honor for me. I am the co-owner of Monte Cook Games, but also ran the d20 Studio, Malhavoc Press for a time where I published stuff like the Book of Eldritch Might, Arcana Evolved, and Ptolus. I worked full time at Iron Crown Enterprises, TSR, and Wizards of the Coast.

In short: Worked on a lot of games.

Believe it or not, I also do stuff that isn't related to tabletop games, but who cares about that? 

Bring on the questions!


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## Dahak

Hi, Monte!

Love you guys, love the Cypher System. 

While it was initially billed as a standalone product, is there now a chance we'll see support books for the Cypher System Rulebook? It seems like there would be room for the equivalents of Numenera and The Strange's key sourcebooks: a bestiary, a techbook, and perhaps an expanded genre book instead of the worldbooks.

And now the hard hitting question: do you expect any Nibovian Wife/Thunder Plains-like resistance to the witch creature in the CSR?


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## jamesjhaeck

What's one tabletop project you dream of doing, but haven't been able to do?


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## Desh-Rae-Halra

Hi Monte,

1. If you were tasked with building your most bad-ass character ever, what would it be and what music would you have on  (Artist and Album) while you were writing it up?
2. Can we count on Into The Night being a return to the ideas/paradigms of Planescape?
3. What question do you get asked most often at conventions?
4. What question do you wish someone would ask?
5. Do you get spotted as a gaming celebrity much outside of conventions?
6. Do you ever wrestle with fans desires to be actual friends with you vs your personal need for privacy?
7. I'm still a proud owner of the autographed version of Ptolus. I cant help but notice the inside cover symbol leeks very much like the cover symbol on the Deluxe Leatherbound Edition of Numenera (which is also the shape of the super-continent). Where does this symbol come from and can you talk about its importance to you. 

~Desh-Rae-Halra

PS. I still insist you are this generations' Gygax!


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## neobolts

First, let me say I'm a big fan of your work. 

1. It's touched on in the rulebooks, but how do you personally deal with players that don't simply roll with the "weird" in Numenera? In my Numenera game I had players that behaved more like Starfleet scientists and bristled at being told things were beyond their comprehension.
2. In "weird" games like Numenera, how do you allow for characters with complex backgrounds tied to the game world without giving the players too much information about all the oddities and secrets of the world? 
3. Do you have an detailed story bible for Numenera's prior civs, or are they just painted in broad strokes?
4. Given that you had some input in 5e, is there any interest in MCG doing a product for 5e? (Also, where is my pipe dream University of Doors/City of Doors crossover? The Lady can't keep this going forever, some of the faculty have already noticed that the headmistress is playing hooky.)
5. Do you feel that people are more sensitive about how sexuality is portrayed in RPGs these days? Is it harder to put some of the bawdier elements into products now?

Thanks!


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## Metseb

*Support for Numenera in Spanish*

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to you for all of the amazing hours of truly wonderful gaming your products have brought to me and my friends. Your work is responsible for more hours of imaginative exploration than any other author. 

Having recently moved to Mexico and finding myself in a difficult situation due to the fact that there are few here who speak English at the level to read through Numenera, I was curious if there will someday be a version released in Spanish? Perhaps another Kickstarter?


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## Desh-Rae-Halra

Hypothetically, if the gaming industry utterly collapsed, what kind of job would you have instead?

Also, if you were to re-write Numenera today, would we still have Glaives, Jacks, and Nanos, or would it look more like the Cypher System Rulebook (with Speakers and Explorers instead of Jacks)?


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## Mark Cleveland

I have been a huge fan since your work on 3rd edition D&D

I am a backer at the Reliquary level for the boxed set Kickstarter for Numenera. I never got my rewards because I failed to receive the email explaining the order process that occurs after paying. After getting no responses to my email inquiry 10 days ago about the missing coupon code - and seeing the posts recently about selling the leftovers at GenCon - let's just say I am very scared that I will never get my rewards. But I also know GenCon is a busy time for all of you over at MCG. *Am I SOL/are the Numenera Reliquary boxed sets all gone?* 

I read before on the Numenera site that MCG was not interested in licensing the Cypher System for use with additional games at one time. However, the Cypher System is now licensed to new games. *Has that stance changed?*


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## Morrus

I enjoyed your Geekseekers show with Jen Page.  Do you have any plans to do more of that, or any other shows?  Do you have a wish-list of stuff in that vein you'd like to do, or people you'd like to work with?


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## Zak S

In Ptolus--which I understand was the actual campaign you ran for a long time--the final dungeon at the end of the whole campaign contains a lot of basically numerically-intense monsters, like: x levels of fire resistance plus an amulet of lightning resistance plus immunity to necrotic damage plus...

...suggesting that the endgame for that era of your campaigns was basically players finding largely system-specifc (as opposed to genre-specific) ways to counter system-based problems. i.e. "We need to find something that gives us at least a +15 frost attack here...".

1. Is this an accurate view of how things went down at the end of your Ptolus campaign?

and

2. Is this still what you're into?


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## FallenAkriel

Would MCG open to collaborate with WotC for a DnD5 book adventure campaign like "Prince of the Apocalypse". Would be great for something Far Realms or Planescapy!


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## chWolfgang

Greetings,

Been a fan of yours for a long time and early supporter of Numenera. Congrats on the success of that line!! It is well deserved.

As a long time fan, I have noticed that the old Web files (Errata, extras, etc) for your older lines has gone away.  Specifically, those for Malhavoc Press in my case. Are there any plans to return these items for download? I was looking for then for a while and have given up recently - so I may have missed something.

Thanks for your time!

chWolfgang


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## Jester David

1) Would you ever release a revised version of Ptolus for another system, like Pathfinder or 5e (assuming a licence was released)?

2) It's been asked before, but I'll ask as well: if WotC made the offer, would Monte Cooke Games do an adventure for 5th Edition?

3) Biggest regret in your RPG writing career? 

4) Best moment or biggest triumph in your RPG writing career? 

5) If you had to leave tabletop games, what field would you look for employment in?


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## GrissTheGnome

I really enjoyed the Cypher System Rulebook, are there any plans to expand that line?  I'd love to see a companion book that expanded the genre chapter quite a bit.


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## GrissTheGnome

Second Question - There have been a lot of awesome RPG's that have come out this year, along with the Cypher System (You have caused me to lose Wife Faction personally ;p ).  Anything new that you enjoyed?


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## dLinear

*AMA Monte Cook - Question*

Monte,

Similar congratulations on all the successes of MCG! Look forward to seeing your products grow for years to come. With that in mind, I have two questions:

1) (Seconding GrissTheGnome) Does MCG intend to produce modular game settings to complement the Cypher System Rulebook? Something like extended Genre Guidebooks (~90pg?) for "Steampunk," "Fantasy," etc.. I've really enjoyed the amount of customization and tweaking that the CSR allows for/encourages, but I can see how that degree of interpretability could be daunting to a newer GM wanting to pick it up to run a particular style of game. These Genre Guidebooks could provide things like accessible descriptor+foci lists, full type+flavour ability options for that settings' "types" (Pilot, War-Mage, etc.), as well as extended equipment lists and expanded discussions of GM tips for that genre.

2) Would you be interested/available for a written interview (via e-mail correspondence)? I would love to discuss the new CSR with you and share our discussion!

Thanks in advance for your time!

Mitch at dLinear


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## icosahedron20

*Writing Process and Tools*

I always find it fascinating to learn about how people work, especially for creative endeavors such as design and writing.  I'm not sure I've ever read about how RPG game designers actually work.

1) What tools do you use to craft a game? Word, Markdown, Scrivener?  (Mac or Windows? )
2) How do you get inspired? Do you have to be in a specific place to design/write? Or do you find the distraction of a coffee shop/others working in your studio a spark? Group discussions with notes sprawling a page or whiteboard?
3) Do you outline, or just spew words on a page and then clean up until what's left is your game?
4) Considering your books arguably have the highest production quality in the industry, how long does layout take? What tool(s) do you use for such things? Outsourced or do you oversee every illustration and punctuation detail? Someone else on staff who oversees that?
5) Probably goes without saying that it's awesome that Bruce, a childhood friend, is working with you, but how do you guys handle disagreements in game design?
6) While it's certainly in the purview of MCG to charge for 3rd party licenses, why charge for fan created items since you undoubtedly don't make that much money from that channel? To keep the barrier of entry and therefore production values higher? (This is arguably the strategy that Apple uses for apps.)

I've definitely used up my allotment.  Love the games so far.  One regret is not backing the box. Any chance of a French version similar to the Italian version?


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## Xethreau

Hey Monte,

1) Where are the jobs in the table-top gaming industry? 
2) If somebody wants to get into game design/writing, how does one get involved with an established publishing company/studio?
3) Where do you see the industry in 10 years?


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## Scrivener of Doom

Monte, one of the things that attracted me to Ptolus was your website with its write-ups of your session reports.

I was wondering, what campaigns are you currently running and/or playing in for fun (as opposed to simply for playtesting purposes)? I'm just looking for the quick elevator pitches, if you will.

Best wishes for the continued success of Numenera, the Cypher system etc...; they're great games.


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## Leatherhead

Hello there!

How did you get into the games and the game industry?

What is your favorite mechanic?

What is your least favorite commonly used mechanic?

Do you prefer to come up with an interesting idea first, then work it into a rule? Or do you like to come up with a nifty rule, then build an idea around it?

Which idea gave you the most trouble when translating it into a game rule?

If you couldn't use dice (or a dice app I suppose), what would you use in their place?

What do you feel is the biggest hurdle you face when you design games?

Do you prefer hot coffee or cold coffee?


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## gurpsgm

Would you consider adding anything to Numenera or The Strange from your Ptolus book?

I haven't got a chance to look at the Cypher System Rulebook.  Do you consider it to be almost required reading for those who are already using Cyper for Numerera or The Strange?

I was one of the many who helped you achieve as much as you did (fantabulous!) for the Numenera Boxed Set.  Are there any books that you've done for Numenera that I should consider for adding to it?


BTW, just for giggles, do you own any pets?

Bruce Gray
gurpsgm


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## jhosmer1

Love your work, and I'm now running a _second_ campaign in Ptolus, 100 years after the first one with the descendants of the Heroes from the first campaign. Ptolus has been really valuable to me.  I've also been throwing in some "cyphers" into that game, as my players love powerful one-shot stuff.

My question has to do with the Cypher system, specifically Effort. I've been playing around with eliminating it, so that players can spend however many points they want to succeed at a task. I thought that if they want something badly enough, they can get it, though it might leave them without points for something else further down the line. 

(I replaced the Effort part of leveling to the next tier with spending 4 XP to create a long-term benefit/story hook.)

I was wondering if this could lead to unintended consequences, however, so I would value your thoughts on the Effort mechanic. Is it just something to simulate a less-experienced hero at the start of their career, or is there more to it?


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## NiallNai

When will MCG be releasing more glimmers and fractals?


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## G2k15

Dear Mister Cook, I cannot even begin to thank you enough for all the fun you provided me with the 3.0 Book of Vile Darkness, the many disciples, and thralls Prc just gave unlimited pleasure, especially the disciple of Dispater back when it got out. 

I would like know if you will be working on a future 5e version of the said book, as well as 5e version of Planescape,Darksun, F-R, and of course Ravenloft ? 

Thanks for your time,

A fan from Québec,

M.Cyr


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## Lucas Yew

Okay, straight to what really puzzled me on the thoughts of a top pro designer;

What do you think of the so-called "Linear Fighters Quadratic Wizards" problem, that has been ravaging the Internet for at most around 4 decades?


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## killem2

Hey There Sir,

Why don't we see a lot of evil driven campaigns? Is it really because people like being the hero or goodie-two-shoes? 

My current group is going to start book 2 of way of the wicked in a month and I can tell you, it will be sad when all of them are done. I don't think any of us have had this much fun with D&D/Path.


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## Eminence_Grise

Hi Monte!

Is the Earth from Numenera about the same size as the Earth from now?

Somebody made a 3D map on the google+ forums and remarked the Earth from Numenera was considerably larger.


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## Barendd Nobeard

*Veins of the Earth*

In your Veins of the Earth campaign, just what was Vlondril's plan to take down the entire Drow race?


 - Kent


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## Dahak

Do you have the rights to do Cypher System versions of Malhavoc products, such as Ptolus and the setting from Arcana Unleashed? If so, do you plan to do them?


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## pming

Hiya!

My Q: What are the chances of you doing a 5e version of Arcana Unearthed? I really like the classes (and races) and their feel. They all have a sort of "serious fantasy" vibe to them, whereas the standard D&D classes (any edition) have a much more "Saturday morning cartoon" type of vibe to them. I guess I sort of see AU as the "adult version" of the D&D classes. I'd love to see the classes in particular done up fully (not just archtypes)...preferably without resorting to using Feats to accomplish; much rather have the focus on hard-coded class abilities that 'feats'.

^_^

Paul L. Ming


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## Maginomicon

Hello Mr Cook.

I have an expansive custom D&D 3.5e campaign setting that I think has serious potential to become a published product. What would be involved in trying to get such a book approved without getting the pants sued off of me?

I'm very serious about this, as the setting document even now is nearly 200 pages long and I haven't even finished hammering out half of the fluff material yet!

What makes this setting different is that it puts D&D 3.5e *3000 years in the future* with space travel, nanotechnology, cyberspace, alien cultures, and even guns making appearances. All D&D 3.5e content is inherently compatible with the setting. It uses a lot of variants from the SRD material, and modifies them to interconnect and be far more fair (such as by rewriting the Spell Points system to be completely unambiguous, balanced, and most-of-all extensible). The setting references a lot of material from various official D&D 3.5e products but doesn't copy from them wholesale (or at least not without changing them as a setting-specific rule so much that they become almost unrecognizable).

There are also a myriad of new variants that change the nature of how the game is played and run. For example, it insists that stories done in this setting have to be run on very short timetables (akin to an action movie) once the players are comfortable with the game, and then adds new variants that support that kind of play style. It also states that everyone growing up in this setting has learned that "caster archetypes" are extremely dangerous (much like someone carrying around a loaded assault rifle in public) and should be feared and dealt with first in a fight. I've also introduced variants that are backwards-compatible with standard D&D 3.5e to "fix" some of the flaws that really irked me as a game designer, such as my "Item Rarity" system which prevents players from going on "shopping sprees", or my "Real Alignments" variant which makes alignment be about motives instead of acts.

While I personally would love your direct assistance in making this setting a published book, I understand that you're very busy and probably won't ever have that kind of time. Is there anyone that you know that you'd want to put me in contact with because they might be interested in assisting me? Please PM me if you'd need to give me information that's private or doesn't fit an AMA format.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your reply. Please let me know if you'd like me to send you my contact information or my LinkedIn profile (I'm a professional game designer).


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## Andugus

Dear Mr. Cook,

I've independently published adventures for OGL 3.5 and Savage Worlds since 2008 through my game company, White Haired Man. In 2013 I closed the doors because the returns per product were averaging about $200 or so over two years of sales. Our reviews were great, but at that time I simply could not find a way to generate more per book. 

This brings me to my question. Assuming the work White Haired Man put out for Cypher System Rules passed muster with Monte Cook Games, why does the licensing fee need to be so high at $50? I could understand a royalty cut per sale sooner than such a large amount of what an independent studio will make per unit.

Thank you for considering my question.


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## Madmaxneo

Hail and well met Monte!

I am a fan of your work and use a lot of that older Rolemaster stuff for inspiration. I have been looking for a copy of the Darkspace book you wrote for Spacemaster since mine disappeared in a fire years ago. Some time ago I asked if you minded me doing a conversion of Darkspace for HARP which I never got around to doing. I still want to do that but just have so many other projects on my list.

Outside of ICE, is there anything you miss about working on (and playing) Rolemaster?

Bruce


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## Monte At Home

Hello everyone!

Wow. Lots of questions. I don't know how many I'm going to be able to get through at a time, but I'm here all week!



Dahak said:


> Hi, Monte!
> 
> Love you guys, love the Cypher System.
> 
> While it was initially billed as a standalone product, is there now a chance we'll see support books for the Cypher System Rulebook? It seems like there would be room for the equivalents of Numenera and The Strange's key sourcebooks: a bestiary, a techbook, and perhaps an expanded genre book instead of the worldbooks.
> 
> And now the hard hitting question: do you expect any Nibovian Wife/Thunder Plains-like resistance to the witch creature in the CSR?




1. Yes, there's a very good chance of at least a couple of support products. I don't know exactly what form they'll take, though.

2. Nope.


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## Monte At Home

Jumblejacks said:


> What's one tabletop project you dream of doing, but haven't been able to do?




I know it maybe sounds like a copout, but I don't really have anyone to tell me that I can't do what I want, so there isn't anything in this category. There's still plenty I want to do, but I'm currently working on them or planning for them in the future.


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## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> Hi Monte,
> 
> 1. If you were tasked with building your most bad-ass character ever, what would it be and what music would you have on  (Artist and Album) while you were writing it up?
> 2. Can we count on Into The Night being a return to the ideas/paradigms of Planescape?
> 3. What question do you get asked most often at conventions?
> 4. What question do you wish someone would ask?
> 5. Do you get spotted as a gaming celebrity much outside of conventions?
> 6. Do you ever wrestle with fans desires to be actual friends with you vs your personal need for privacy?
> 7. I'm still a proud owner of the autographed version of Ptolus. I cant help but notice the inside cover symbol leeks very much like the cover symbol on the Deluxe Leatherbound Edition of Numenera (which is also the shape of the super-continent). Where does this symbol come from and can you talk about its importance to you.
> 
> ~Desh-Rae-Halra
> 
> PS. I still insist you are this generations' Gygax!




1. Hmm. Maybe something using the Primal Order? Gods are pretty bad-ass. I'd probably put on Muse, Black Holes and Revelations.
2. I actually think all of Numenera is a return to the paradigms of Planescape.
3. Will you sign my book?
4. Would you like some cake?
5. This happens every now and again (maybe 5-6 times a year), but not often.
6. Not that much. Although I'm an intensely private and shy person, the vast, vast majority of people are cool.
7. Good eye. It's just one of those symbols that I've always liked--sketched in high school notebooks, and that sort of thing. If I really thought about it, it's probably related to some comic book character in some way. When I was much younger, I drew a lot, and basically taught myself by copying from comics.


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## Monte At Home

neobolts said:


> First, let me say I'm a big fan of your work.
> 
> 1. It's touched on in the rulebooks, but how do you personally deal with players that don't simply roll with the "weird" in Numenera? In my Numenera game I had players that behaved more like Starfleet scientists and bristled at being told things were beyond their comprehension.
> 2. In "weird" games like Numenera, how do you allow for characters with complex backgrounds tied to the game world without giving the players too much information about all the oddities and secrets of the world?
> 3. Do you have an detailed story bible for Numenera's prior civs, or are they just painted in broad strokes?
> 4. Given that you had some input in 5e, is there any interest in MCG doing a product for 5e? (Also, where is my pipe dream University of Doors/City of Doors crossover? The Lady can't keep this going forever, some of the faculty have already noticed that the headmistress is playing hooky.)
> 5. Do you feel that people are more sensitive about how sexuality is portrayed in RPGs these days? Is it harder to put some of the bawdier elements into products now?
> 
> Thanks!




1. I don't ever force things on players that they don't want. If that was my group, I'd roll with it, and give them stuff to explore with their tricorders.
2. There's always more secrets. I'd default to the character the player wants to play, within reason. I mean, if someone said, "I want to play the character that knows all the secrets," that's a bit much, but if she did know a lot about one thing, one area, or something like that, that's cool. Particularly in Numenera's Ninth World, this wouldn't be a problem because the world is so intentionally disparate, disassociated, and isolated that knowing all about stuff on one side of the hill doesn't mean they know anything about the other side.
3. I don't have much more than what's actually in the corebook. Putting a lot of definition on them is exactly the opposite of the point.
4. Not really. (And that crossover would indeed be weird.)
5. I don't know if that's a general statement I could make either way, because I'm not sure what I'm actually comparing. I will say that we did a pdf-only supplement for Numenera called Love and Sex in the Ninth World and it was extremely well-received. I think that sex and romance are a part of life, and their absence in fiction (including games) is often glaring when it occurs. They're always going to be a part of anything I work on, if it's appropriate.


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## Monte At Home

Metseb said:


> First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to you for all of the amazing hours of truly wonderful gaming your products have brought to me and my friends. Your work is responsible for more hours of imaginative exploration than any other author.
> 
> Having recently moved to Mexico and finding myself in a difficult situation due to the fact that there are few here who speak English at the level to read through Numenera, I was curious if there will someday be a version released in Spanish? Perhaps another Kickstarter?




Thanks! 

There is a Spanish version of Numenera published in Spain by Holocubierta Ediciones.


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## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> Hypothetically, if the gaming industry utterly collapsed, what kind of job would you have instead?
> 
> Also, if you were to re-write Numenera today, would we still have Glaives, Jacks, and Nanos, or would it look more like the Cypher System Rulebook (with Speakers and Explorers instead of Jacks)?




1. If I could, I'd still be a fiction writer and/or work on video games (I guess it depends on what you mean by gaming industry). Way back when, though, I thought if I didn't work on games I would have got an advanced degree in psychology, specifically having to do with research, and specifically sleep research. Sleep and dreams have always fascinated me.

2. I would keep with the original three types, which I have a great fondness for.


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## Speech

Hi Monte,

I've been a big fan of Ptolus since your first blog posts about it. Out of curiosity-was there anything that you wanted to put into it after it was published? Another aspect of the city or un-fleshed out storyline/hook that you thought "Oh MAN-I forgot to put that in!!" 

Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA.


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## Monte At Home

Mark Cleveland said:


> I have been a huge fan since your work on 3rd edition D&D
> 
> I am a backer at the Reliquary level for the boxed set Kickstarter for Numenera. I never got my rewards because I failed to receive the email explaining the order process that occurs after paying. After getting no responses to my email inquiry 10 days ago about the missing coupon code - and seeing the posts recently about selling the leftovers at GenCon - let's just say I am very scared that I will never get my rewards. But I also know GenCon is a busy time for all of you over at MCG. *Am I SOL/are the Numenera Reliquary boxed sets all gone?*
> 
> I read before on the Numenera site that MCG was not interested in licensing the Cypher System for use with additional games at one time. However, the Cypher System is now licensed to new games. *Has that stance changed?*




1. Absolutely not. I'm sorry that we're so behind on dealing with customer requests. This is our #1 priority right now, and I assure you we'll get everything worked out. We always hold back enough copies of everything to ensure not only every Kickstarter backer gets what they originally backed but also to account for shipping loss or damage. As an aside, you might be surprised to learn how significant that latter category is. We always replace products lost or damaged in shipping (I think all good companies do), but that percentage can be as high as 10%. This is one of those mistakes I see new companies--particularly on Kickstarter--make. Post Office, FedEx UPS... doesn't matter the carrier. They destroy or lose an astonishing number of packages and the sender has to deal with it.

I don't know why I just went off on that little tangent, but there you go. Bonus content for the AMA! Monte even answers questions you didn't ask!


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## Monte At Home

Morrus said:


> I enjoyed your Geekseekers show with Jen Page.  Do you have any plans to do more of that, or any other shows?  Do you have a wish-list of stuff in that vein you'd like to do, or people you'd like to work with?




Thanks!

Jen and I talk about it from time to time, but we're both just so busy. At one point we got so far as to start talking to the manager of another investigation spot--there's a bar in Seattle that used to be a mortuary and supposedly is haunted--but it never came together.

I love film and like to be a part of it. I was in Gamers 2 and JourneyQuest with the Dead Gentlemen/ZOE and that was a lot of fun. (Jen and I wrote a script for a short film based on my character in Gamers 2 that was called Bill's Revenge but I'm sure that will never see the light of day.)

When you get the chance to see Numenera: Strand, I think you'll be as blown away as I was (and it's not even 100% finished). I'd love to work with those filmmakers again.


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## Monte At Home

Zak S said:


> In Ptolus--which I understand was the actual campaign you ran for a long time--the final dungeon at the end of the whole campaign contains a lot of basically numerically-intense monsters, like: x levels of fire resistance plus an amulet of lightning resistance plus immunity to necrotic damage plus...
> 
> ...suggesting that the endgame for that era of your campaigns was basically players finding largely system-specifc (as opposed to genre-specific) ways to counter system-based problems. i.e. "We need to find something that gives us at least a +15 frost attack here...".
> 
> 1. Is this an accurate view of how things went down at the end of your Ptolus campaign?
> 
> and
> 
> 2. Is this still what you're into?




1. I can see why you'd say that, but no, not really. My view on high level 3E play (and really, high level D&D of any edition) is that the PCs have SOOO many options and resources that you can throw anything at that without compunction, and in fact the way to make it fun is to give them challenges that they can't beat in a conventional way. So if a foe has a bunch of resistances to damage the point isn't to cobble together numbers to overcome that resistance, it's to come up with some plan that involves dealing with it in a different way. I mean wishes, magic items, and all those weird things that characters gather over the course of a good campaign (the spear that phases through all metal after the fighter dipped the tip in the pool of the Iron God after the party spilled blood of the Cockatrice King into it on the Night of All Consumption... etc.). With all that, I think you can just sit back and figure they'll come up with some solution. However, at the same time, the 3E paradigm was to quantify things numerically. The reason was that blanket immunities trip up genre tropes, particularly high level ones. The idea was that rather than being immune to fire, you have fire resistance 50 or whatever. Meaning that while you can probably wade through lava like it was bathwater, if I pull out Shamala, the mystic blade so hot that it burns fire itself, there's some mechanical way of dealing with that.

2. After the various Ptolus campaigns I ran for a lot of years, I ran another D&D 3E campaign for a couple years but it never got super high level. Since then, I've played other things--obviously, mostly games I'm currently working on. The only D&D I play today is a very modified version of OD&D. But that could change, I suppose.


----------



## Barantor

Hopefully this hasn't been asked already. 

What was the inspiration that gave you the idea to create Monte Cook Games? Was it a natural progression from what you have done previously or was it a sudden realization?

Do you ever do things that are outside your normal routine for the soul purpose of kick starting your creative process? If so, do any of those really stand out?

What advice would you give someone who is full of creativity but doesn't have as much formal schooling or training? 

What do you think defines the folks that have worked with you and for you in gaming? What is their common element?


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## Monte At Home

FallenAkriel said:


> Would MCG open to collaborate with WotC for a DnD5 book adventure campaign like "Prince of the Apocalypse". Would be great for something Far Realms or Planescapy!




To be honest, this seems really unlikely.


----------



## Monte At Home

chWolfgang said:


> Greetings,
> 
> Been a fan of yours for a long time and early supporter of Numenera. Congrats on the success of that line!! It is well deserved.
> 
> As a long time fan, I have noticed that the old Web files (Errata, extras, etc) for your older lines has gone away.  Specifically, those for Malhavoc Press in my case. Are there any plans to return these items for download? I was looking for then for a while and have given up recently - so I may have missed something.
> 
> Thanks for your time!
> 
> chWolfgang




Thank you.

A lot of those Malhavoc Press promo files and whatnot went down when the old website bit the dust. I still have them somewhere on my machine, and would like to get them up again, but as that stuff's all like 12 years old, it's just not a high priority. If there's something you need and it's crucial, shoot me an email and I'll try to dig it up.


----------



## Willie the Duck

Hi Monte, big fan. Loving my current Numenera campaign.

I don't know if this is an appropriate question, and I'll let you frame it any way you want. On the subject of D&D 3rd edition--is there anything you wish you had done differently for that edition?


----------



## Monte At Home

Jester Canuck said:


> 1) Would you ever release a revised version of Ptolus for another system, like Pathfinder or 5e (assuming a licence was released)?
> 
> 2) It's been asked before, but I'll ask as well: if WotC made the offer, would Monte Cooke Games do an adventure for 5th Edition?
> 
> 3) Biggest regret in your RPG writing career?
> 
> 4) Best moment or biggest triumph in your RPG writing career?
> 
> 5) If you had to leave tabletop games, what field would you look for employment in?




1. Pretty doubtful. Ptolus was and still is awesome for what it is. Making it for a different system feels wrong. To me, it would be like playing Castle Greyhawk using GURPS or something. 

2. Pretty doubtful.

3. Going back to WotC to work on 5e.

4. That's a really tough one. I've been fortunate to have a lot of them. I guess I'd probably say being inducted into the Hall of Fame. That's the kind of thing that doesn't mean much to most gamers, but to someone who's been in the industry a long time, it's pretty meaningful. Plus, the company it puts me in is overwhelmingly humbling.

5. Either fiction writing or computer games. Probably both.


----------



## Monte At Home

GrissTheGnome said:


> I really enjoyed the Cypher System Rulebook, are there any plans to expand that line?  I'd love to see a companion book that expanded the genre chapter quite a bit.




We're still figuring out what this will look like, but it's likely that there will be some expansion.


----------



## Monte At Home

GrissTheGnome said:


> Second Question - There have been a lot of awesome RPG's that have come out this year, along with the Cypher System (You have caused me to lose Wife Faction personally ;p ).  Anything new that you enjoyed?




I like FFG's Star Wars game(s). I'm looking forward to trying out Mindjammer. I'd like to play Night Witches, too.


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## Monte At Home

dLinear said:


> Monte,
> 
> Similar congratulations on all the successes of MCG! Look forward to seeing your products grow for years to come. With that in mind, I have two questions:
> 
> 1) (Seconding GrissTheGnome) Does MCG intend to produce modular game settings to complement the Cypher System Rulebook? Something like extended Genre Guidebooks (~90pg?) for "Steampunk," "Fantasy," etc.. I've really enjoyed the amount of customization and tweaking that the CSR allows for/encourages, but I can see how that degree of interpretability could be daunting to a newer GM wanting to pick it up to run a particular style of game. These Genre Guidebooks could provide things like accessible descriptor+foci lists, full type+flavour ability options for that settings' "types" (Pilot, War-Mage, etc.), as well as extended equipment lists and expanded discussions of GM tips for that genre.
> 
> 2) Would you be interested/available for a written interview (via e-mail correspondence)? I would love to discuss the new CSR with you and share our discussion!
> 
> Thanks in advance for your time!
> 
> Mitch at dLinear




1. There will be some kind of support products for CSR. We're still working out the details.

2. Sure thing.


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## Monte At Home

icosahedron20 said:


> I always find it fascinating to learn about how people work, especially for creative endeavors such as design and writing.  I'm not sure I've ever read about how RPG game designers actually work.
> 
> 1) What tools do you use to craft a game? Word, Markdown, Scrivener?  (Mac or Windows? )
> 2) How do you get inspired? Do you have to be in a specific place to design/write? Or do you find the distraction of a coffee shop/others working in your studio a spark? Group discussions with notes sprawling a page or whiteboard?
> 3) Do you outline, or just spew words on a page and then clean up until what's left is your game?
> 4) Considering your books arguably have the highest production quality in the industry, how long does layout take? What tool(s) do you use for such things? Outsourced or do you oversee every illustration and punctuation detail? Someone else on staff who oversees that?
> 5) Probably goes without saying that it's awesome that Bruce, a childhood friend, is working with you, but how do you guys handle disagreements in game design?
> 6) While it's certainly in the purview of MCG to charge for 3rd party licenses, why charge for fan created items since you undoubtedly don't make that much money from that channel? To keep the barrier of entry and therefore production values higher? (This is arguably the strategy that Apple uses for apps.)
> 
> I've definitely used up my allotment.  Love the games so far.  One regret is not backing the box. Any chance of a French version similar to the Italian version?




1. I work on a Mac and writing in Scrivener. But my team uses a lot of different tools--Google Docs, InDesign, etc.
2. I don't ever really feel uninspired, to be honest. I used to be the kind of writer who had to have a specific environment to work, but those days are long gone. I can work anywhere. We do have a huge whiteboard in the house, with a giant picture that covers it when we're not using it. (And actually, we have five other whiteboards... I'm a fan of whiteboards.)
3. There's a lot of preliminary concept, thought, and planning that goes into each product--and in particular a whole new game--so that when it's time to write I can just sit down and write.
4. Layout is a bit arduous for our books. I don't do it myself, so I can't give you a lot of details. We use InDesign. Numenera and some of the early products were done by graphic designer Sarah Robinson, but now everything is done by our full-time, in-house artist Bear Weiter. All our illustrators are out of house (and spread out literally across the globe). Bear is also our art director so he works with them, but I do approve every illustration and every page in our books. One thing that makes our books much more difficult to make are all the callout columns (the margins of our books where we give page references and other information). Those are a pain in the ass, but they make using the books a lot easier. I don't think I could, in good conscience, release big rpg tomes without that kind of internal (and sometimes external) reference.
5. It happens so rarely that I don't even know how to answer that, actually. We're all fans of discussion and working things out on our team, so I think we reach a point where we're all happy.
6. Fan stuff has no charge. The only licensing charge (and it's very nominal for the limited license) is for people who are selling stuff, so by definition, they're now doing it professionally. The licensing charge is really there so that we know they're serious and are going to do something quality. So far, it's worked beautifully, and the stuff our limited licensees have put out is really cool.


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## Monte At Home

RyukenAngel said:


> Hey Monte,
> 
> 1) Where are the jobs in the table-top gaming industry?
> 2) If somebody wants to get into game design/writing, how does one get involved with an established publishing company/studio?
> 3) Where do you see the industry in 10 years?




1. Frankly, where you make them. Today, the best way to work in table-top games is to create and publish something on your own. That said, you're a lot better off getting work as a good editor than a good designer, because editors are more in demand. Same might be true of graphic designers.

2. Make a name for yourself on your own. Create a blog that thousands of people read. Create your own game or supplements that make people take notice. 

3. In the small picture, probably with lots of differences. In the big picture, not very different. If we look backward to 2005, lots of new companies were popping up to put out d20 products while some had established themselves and D&D was unequivocally on top. Today, we have new companies popping up to put out cool new games, but there are plenty of established voices too. D&D is on top again. The names have changed, but the story is still the same. I think the biggest change in ten years is where D&D will be. Will it only exist as a movie franchise and licensed computer games and whatnot? That will be interesting to watch.


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## Monte At Home

Scrivener of Doom said:


> Monte, one of the things that attracted me to Ptolus was your website with its write-ups of your session reports.
> 
> I was wondering, what campaigns are you currently running and/or playing in for fun (as opposed to simply for playtesting purposes)? I'm just looking for the quick elevator pitches, if you will.
> 
> Best wishes for the continued success of Numenera, the Cypher system etc...; they're great games.




We've been doing a whole bunch of different Cypher System games in different genres. My friend Chris Sims just ran a Dark Sun Cypher System game, for example. I am about to run a fantasy Cypher game using all the minis and Dwarven Forge and whatnot that I still have from my 3E/d20 days. I also run an OD&D campaign, but that's been on hiatus for the summer.


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## DragonMasterDean

Hi Monte!

Long time fan of your D&D work and have looked at some of the new stuff. I think the Book of Vile Darkness was inspired and did you have a lot of input on the Fiendish Codex?  And Ghostwalk is one of my favorite settings. On Retro stuff, trying to do Paladin in Hell in 3.5. Any suggestions?


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## Monte At Home

Leatherhead said:


> Hello there!
> 
> How did you get into the games and the game industry?
> 
> What is your favorite mechanic?
> 
> What is your least favorite commonly used mechanic?
> 
> Do you prefer to come up with an interesting idea first, then work it into a rule? Or do you like to come up with a nifty rule, then build an idea around it?
> 
> Which idea gave you the most trouble when translating it into a game rule?
> 
> If you couldn't use dice (or a dice app I suppose), what would you use in their place?
> 
> What do you feel is the biggest hurdle you face when you design games?
> 
> Do you prefer hot coffee or cold coffee?




1. I first heard about D&D in sunday school. Two brothers were talking about maps on graph paper, traps, and a magical crown. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew I wanted in.
I got started professionally when I was in college, and found out that the company that published the game I was currently playing, Rolemaster, was looking for freelance design help. I ended up writing a book called Creatures and Treasures II. This was a foothold in doing more writing for the company, Iron Crown Enterprises, and eventually working there full time.

2. Probably the sanity mechanic in Call of Cthulhu. It's fun, easy, and reflects the dark nature of the game.

3. Hmm. Tough, because there's a lot to choose from. I'm tempted to say initiative, but I'm going to go with anything that requires a succession of die rolls from one player (including the GM) because that can really slow the game down. People can sometimes forget how much time comes from rolling a die, registering the result (particularly if you're adding dice results to get a total result), and interpreting that result. Each instance may be short, but when you do it over and over session after session, that's a lot of time. I'm always looking for ways of designing around it--but at the same time not doing away with it entirely because rolling dice is fun and a core activity in the hobby. So it's a balancing act.

4. Idea first almost always.

5. Probably some of the more complex activities we tried to simulate in 3E (grapple, jumping, etc.), in some cases with mixed results.

6. Cards, I suppose.

7. The biggest hurdle is probably communicating a new mechanic to existing players. It's human nature to equate new things to what you already know ("so this is like hit points, and this other thing is like Armor Class") but sometimes that can be really counterproductive. Interestingly, you obviously don't have this problem with new players.

8. I don't drink coffee.


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## Monte At Home

gurpsgm said:


> Would you consider adding anything to Numenera or The Strange from your Ptolus book?
> 
> I haven't got a chance to look at the Cypher System Rulebook.  Do you consider it to be almost required reading for those who are already using Cyper for Numerera or The Strange?
> 
> I was one of the many who helped you achieve as much as you did (fantabulous!) for the Numenera Boxed Set.  Are there any books that you've done for Numenera that I should consider for adding to it?
> 
> 
> BTW, just for giggles, do you own any pets?
> 
> Bruce Gray
> gurpsgm




1. Probably not. I enjoy creating new things rather than looking backward.

2. Nothing's required reading. If you're already playing Numenera and having fun, you don't need it. Much of it would be repetitive. But if you want to run a Steampunk game or a modern horror game and you're liking the system in Numenera, CSR is what you want.

3. Thanks. Obviously, I think all of them, but I'm biased. If I was going to choose one, I'd probably say the Ninth World Bestiary because the creatures are freaky and weird and everyone needs more creatures. You might also try the adventure collection, Weird Discoveries. I put a lot of work into creating a new way to present adventures that require little or no prep on the GM's part.

4. I have a black lab (mixed with something we don't know--she's a shelter rescue) named Ampersand. She's asleep at my feet as I type this.


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## kahnjl

Monte At Home said:


> 3. Going back to WotC to work on 5e.




I'm not trying to get you in trouble, but since this is an am*A*...

Can you expand on this a little bit? What made it so rueful?


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## Monte At Home

jhosmer1 said:


> Love your work, and I'm now running a _second_ campaign in Ptolus, 100 years after the first one with the descendants of the Heroes from the first campaign. Ptolus has been really valuable to me.  I've also been throwing in some "cyphers" into that game, as my players love powerful one-shot stuff.
> 
> My question has to do with the Cypher system, specifically Effort. I've been playing around with eliminating it, so that players can spend however many points they want to succeed at a task. I thought that if they want something badly enough, they can get it, though it might leave them without points for something else further down the line.
> 
> (I replaced the Effort part of leveling to the next tier with spending 4 XP to create a long-term benefit/story hook.)
> 
> I was wondering if this could lead to unintended consequences, however, so I would value your thoughts on the Effort mechanic. Is it just something to simulate a less-experienced hero at the start of their career, or is there more to it?




Here's what will likely happen, unless your players are atypical. Your players will succeed at most everything they try by expending everything right away, and then they'll want to rest so that they can recover, and then do it all again. Unlimited effort is like carrying around a gun that shoots all your bullets at once--it makes you really tough, for one shot.

I'm exaggerating/oversimplifying a bit, but it's what you'd need to worry about. Or not--if that doesn't seem problematic, then cool. You should play the way you want.

As a general rule, players are typically EXTREMELY conservative with uncertain resources and EXTREMELY liberal with resources they know they can count on renewing easily.


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## Monte At Home

NiallNai said:


> When will MCG be releasing more glimmers and fractals?




We have a bunch in the hopper. First up will probably be an adventure for both lines (the ones we ran at GenCon). Bruce wrote a cool set of new character options for The Strange and Shanna and I are putting together another glimmer similar to Sex and Love in the Ninth World, but dealing with a different topic.


----------



## Monte At Home

G2k15 said:


> Dear Mister Cook, I cannot even begin to thank you enough for all the fun you provided me with the 3.0 Book of Vile Darkness, the many disciples, and thralls Prc just gave unlimited pleasure, especially the disciple of Dispater back when it got out.
> 
> I would like know if you will be working on a future 5e version of the said book, as well as 5e version of Planescape,Darksun, F-R, and of course Ravenloft ?
> 
> Thanks for your time,
> 
> A fan from Québec,
> 
> M.Cyr




Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. It was a fun tool for DMs. I will not be working on any 5e products, however.


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## Monte At Home

Lucas Yew said:


> Okay, straight to what really puzzled me on the thoughts of a top pro designer;
> 
> What do you think of the so-called "Linear Fighters Quadratic Wizards" problem, that has been ravaging the Internet for at most around 4 decades?




It's a complex issue, but ultimately not as big an issue in my mind as in those of some players. It reminds me of the early days of 3E, right here on these very boards, as we saw individual threads claiming that each and every class (well, maybe not the bard) was overpowered. We knew we'd done something right at that time, because there was no one class that everyone was gravitating toward. The truth is, classes are more fundamental archetypes than they are just a series of stats and bonuses. Someone who wants to play a fighter because of what a fighter is, is going to have fun being that character, and is going to be able to do the kinds of things it feels like a fighter should do. (If that isn't the case, there's something wrong.) The same with a wizard. The fact that you can't perfectly equate turning the ground to mud with cutting down three bugbears in a single swing of an axe is actually a strength of the game. It's when you do try to equate them that you lose flavor. If you're having fun playing your character and doing the kinds of things you want to be able to do, and I'm doing the same with my character, who cares about the rest?

That doesn't mean throw balance out the window, of course. A good designer will be able take those "uncomparables" and hopefully compare them enough to make it feel right. Sadly--particularly at the high end--one mistake really throws a wrench into things. What all of this means is, and I know that a lot of people will disagree with me vehemently, game balance is an art, and has more to do with emotion and fun, and not an exact science, having to do with only mechanics.


----------



## Monte At Home

killem2 said:


> Hey There Sir,
> 
> Why don't we see a lot of evil driven campaigns? Is it really because people like being the hero or goodie-two-shoes?
> 
> My current group is going to start book 2 of way of the wicked in a month and I can tell you, it will be sad when all of them are done. I don't think any of us have had this much fun with D&D/Path.




Well, the roots of D&D are far less in heroics than they are in more mercenary-like behavior, and I know some people play evil campaigns (I've certainly done it), but most people find that non-evil campaigns are probably more easily sustained long-term. You've got to get everyone on board and in the spirit of things, and some players aren't going to want to do that and should never be forced to. I suppose you can say that you dodge a lot of potential issues and problems by assuming the PCs are--more or less--the good guys.


----------



## Monte At Home

Eminence_Grise said:


> Hi Monte!
> 
> Is the Earth from Numenera about the same size as the Earth from now?
> 
> Somebody made a 3D map on the google+ forums and remarked the Earth from Numenera was considerably larger.




Maybe we goofed a bit with the supercontinent. But literally reshaping the globe would not have been impossible (or even overly challenging) for the prior worlds, so any number of changes could have been made to explain any discrepancies.


----------



## Monte At Home

Barendd Nobeard said:


> In your Veins of the Earth campaign, just what was Vlondril's plan to take down the entire Drow race?
> 
> 
> - Kent




Hey Kent! How's it going?

If memory serves, this all played into how I'd taken the G- and D- module series and turned them on their heads. The giants were manipulating the drow to rise up in the Underdark and foment trouble. All of that made Lolth vulnerable, and I think Vlondril ultimately wanted to take out Lolth. 

Probably with the help of the Old Ones. I think she was a secret (?) cultist.

But it's been a while.


----------



## Monte At Home

Dahak said:


> Do you have the rights to do Cypher System versions of Malhavoc products, such as Ptolus and the setting from Arcana Unleashed? If so, do you plan to do them?




Yes, I own all those properties, but currently do not have plans to covert them. Lots of plans for new stuff, though!


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## Monte At Home

pming said:


> Hiya!
> 
> My Q: What are the chances of you doing a 5e version of Arcana Unearthed? I really like the classes (and races) and their feel. They all have a sort of "serious fantasy" vibe to them, whereas the standard D&D classes (any edition) have a much more "Saturday morning cartoon" type of vibe to them. I guess I sort of see AU as the "adult version" of the D&D classes. I'd love to see the classes in particular done up fully (not just archtypes)...preferably without resorting to using Feats to accomplish; much rather have the focus on hard-coded class abilities that 'feats'.
> 
> ^_^
> 
> Paul L. Ming




Chances are vanishingly small. I'm really glad you enjoyed AU, though. I loved working on that and it's very dear to my heart.


----------



## Monte At Home

Maginomicon said:


> Hello Mr Cook.
> 
> I have an expansive custom D&D 3.5e campaign setting that I think has serious potential to become a published product. What would be involved in trying to get such a book approved without getting the pants sued off of me?
> 
> I'm very serious about this, as the setting document even now is nearly 200 pages long and I haven't even finished hammering out half of the fluff material yet!
> 
> What makes this setting different is that it puts D&D 3.5e *3000 years in the future* with space travel, nanotechnology, cyberspace, alien cultures, and even guns making appearances. All D&D 3.5e content is inherently compatible with the setting. It uses a lot of variants from the SRD material, and modifies them to interconnect and be far more fair (such as by rewriting the Spell Points system to be completely unambiguous, balanced, and most-of-all extensible). The setting references a lot of material from various official D&D 3.5e products but doesn't copy from them wholesale (or at least not without changing them as a setting-specific rule so much that they become almost unrecognizable).
> 
> There are also a myriad of new variants that change the nature of how the game is played and run. For example, it insists that stories done in this setting have to be run on very short timetables (akin to an action movie) once the players are comfortable with the game, and then adds new variants that support that kind of play style. It also states that everyone growing up in this setting has learned that "caster archetypes" are extremely dangerous (much like someone carrying around a loaded assault rifle in public) and should be feared and dealt with first in a fight. I've also introduced variants that are backwards-compatible with standard D&D 3.5e to "fix" some of the flaws that really irked me as a game designer, such as my "Item Rarity" system which prevents players from going on "shopping sprees", or my "Real Alignments" variant which makes alignment be about motives instead of acts.
> 
> While I personally would love your direct assistance in making this setting a published book, I understand that you're very busy and probably won't ever have that kind of time. Is there anyone that you know that you'd want to put me in contact with because they might be interested in assisting me? Please PM me if you'd need to give me information that's private or doesn't fit an AMA format.
> 
> Thank you for your time. I look forward to your reply. Please let me know if you'd like me to send you my contact information or my LinkedIn profile (I'm a professional game designer).




If it's 3.5 compatible, you can publish it all yourself by using the Open Gaming License without much problem. If you're worried about the legalities of it, though, chatting with a lawyer who knows about licensing and copyright for an hour is worth whatever his or her hourly rate is. 

I don't personally know a lot of companies still doing a lot of that style of OGL content today (I personally am not) that isn't actually Pathfinder compatible, but actually it sounds like that wouldn't be a hard switch for you.

Good luck!


----------



## Larcher

Nice talking to you at Gencon, and here in Brazil. Really some good mechanics in the Cypher rulebook. 

MMG is doing a lot of rulebooks, a great deal of settings. Any plans on big adventures? 

And is there a plan for more settings for Cypher, like Medieval Fantasy or Horror game?


----------



## Knightfall

Hi Monte,

A quick question about the Cypher System. Do you think you'll ever do a 'lite' version of the system? Would that even be possible with how the system is currently designed?

I will admit to not following ever part of the system's development, so if such a product is already in the planning stage or exists somewhere where I haven't seen it, then forgive my ignorance.

Cheers!


----------



## GrissTheGnome

How is the progress on the Torment game?  If I remember correctly your going to work on that a bit, is that part done, and if so how do you feel about it?

One of the things I have grown to appreciate in my old age is giant super adventures.  I'm currently working through a 3rd Edition adventure with my home group.  And on my bucket list is to do "Eternal Lies" for Trail of Cthulhu.  Super adventures are probably a pain in the butt to create, but they raise the chances of me running something considerably.  Any plans on making one for Numenera or the Strange?

Also I'm madly in love with the Strange, it looks like I'm going to get to play in a game soon.  I know your doing the Numenera Kickstarter so that is probably the focus at the moment, but any hints of the future of that line would be awesome.


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## Monte At Home

Andugus said:


> Dear Mr. Cook,
> 
> I've independently published adventures for OGL 3.5 and Savage Worlds since 2008 through my game company, White Haired Man. In 2013 I closed the doors because the returns per product were averaging about $200 or so over two years of sales. Our reviews were great, but at that time I simply could not find a way to generate more per book.
> 
> This brings me to my question. Assuming the work White Haired Man put out for Cypher System Rules passed muster with Monte Cook Games, why does the licensing fee need to be so high at $50? I could understand a royalty cut per sale sooner than such a large amount of what an independent studio will make per unit.
> 
> Thank you for considering my question.




The game industry is a crazy place, with some getting more attention and success than others. It's hard to always know why. I'm sorry that White Haired Man's doors had to close. All I can say is that those publishers using our limited license are having no trouble way more than recouping what is actually a very, very small licensing fee. (In the larger context of licenses, most are thousands of dollars.) As I said in an earlier question, we aren't doing it to make money, we're doing it to set a bar of professionalism. 

That said, in all matters and this applies to a lot of inquiries in this AMA, we are not some huge Hasbro-like corporate entity with policies that can't be altered with circumstances, we're a small group of people that anyone can approach as reasonable individuals.


----------



## Lapasta

Hi Monte!

I'm a Kickstarter backer for Numenera. First I would like to tell that when I saw the announcement for The Strange I was disappointed that you would already be moving on from Numenera, even before the books were all out. I'm glad now to see that I was wrong, as you just announced even more books for Numenera.

About these three new books: why did you choose to put them as expansions to Numenera and not just campaigns for use with the Cypher System? Isn't Numenera already big enough? (Not that I would prefer the other way, just want to understand why). In special the one on other planes go near the theme of The Strange (or doesn't it?).

Also, how weird will the Into the Night be?

I'm also a backer for Torment: Numenera. How involved are you in the development of the game? Do you know the storyline only or also the details of the plot? And do you think you will see an increase in the sales of Numenera (book) when the PC game is out?

I am a long time fan of Planescape: Torment, but have never played tabletop Planescape. I have recently tried to read the old AD&D books and found them hard to digest by modern standards. Will into the Outside make for a similar experience, but with a fresh take on it?


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## Monte At Home

Madmaxneo said:


> Hail and well met Monte!
> 
> I am a fan of your work and use a lot of that older Rolemaster stuff for inspiration. I have been looking for a copy of the Darkspace book you wrote for Spacemaster since mine disappeared in a fire years ago. Some time ago I asked if you minded me doing a conversion of Darkspace for HARP which I never got around to doing. I still want to do that but just have so many other projects on my list.
> 
> Outside of ICE, is there anything you miss about working on (and playing) Rolemaster?
> 
> Bruce




The crit charts are pretty fun. There's also a certain purity of a percentile system that appeals in some ways. I made a lot of great friends at ICE, and though we're all scattered to the four winds, there are a lot of great memories there.


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## turkeygiant

Hi,

Do you think there will be a setting expansion for Numenera that presents a more "organised" corner of the ninth world, something that really draws me to a setting is when you can see the relationships between the different factions and nations on a large scale rather than just presenting them each as their own little concept that ends at the border of the village/city/nation? Golarion and Forgotten realms are usually my examples for diverse settings that still feel like interconnected worlds, but for that matter The Strange does it really well too tying many of the recursions back to the overarching interests of the Estate, Quiet Cabal, OSR, etc. One of my struggles with getting a Numenera game going has been that there are a million great ideas for a one off game or couple session arc, but I have a hard time trying to draw more long term stories and interests out of the fluff for the Steadfast.


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## Monte At Home

Speech said:


> Hi Monte,
> 
> I've been a big fan of Ptolus since your first blog posts about it. Out of curiosity-was there anything that you wanted to put into it after it was published? Another aspect of the city or un-fleshed out storyline/hook that you thought "Oh MAN-I forgot to put that in!!"
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA.




Not really. I of course kept running games there after publication, but some of that material wound up in the few supplementary things I did after the big book. So no, there isn't really any Ptolus stuff on the proverbial cutting room floor.


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## Desh-Rae-Halra

Dear Monte,


1. Imagine if you could run a dream game for 5 players. These players can come from any time and be real or fictional. Who would those 5 players be and what game would you run?

2. What kinds of things are you afraid of/if you had a phobia, what would it be?

3. When you are a player in an RPG, do you tend to gravitate towards any kind of class or concept?

4. Is it in the MCG parameters of things to come to have some Metaplot campaign for Numenera or The Strange? I think about stuff like a Ruk Incursion for The Strange or Rise of the Abhumans in Numenera. 

5. What other game systems do you think are pushing the RPG industry forward?

Iadace

Desh-Rae-Halra


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## Fabio Andrea Rossi

*The Dirty One!*

Hi Monte and thanks especially for Numenera and A Hero's Tale (wish there were more of such high quality drag-n-drop scenarios), here a question I am really curious about,if you can answer it: what are the main things you would have done differently in 5e? It seems to be doing fairly well and I'm liking it , still I'd live to know the "what if" scenario, there may be treasure to steal in those dangerous caves...


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## Dionysos

Is there any chance of a Diamond Throne setting book for Cypher System? I see you are not much for converting AU to 5e, but it is a fabulous setting and it would be great in your current system.


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## Monte At Home

Barantor said:


> Hopefully this hasn't been asked already.
> 
> What was the inspiration that gave you the idea to create Monte Cook Games? Was it a natural progression from what you have done previously or was it a sudden realization?
> 
> Do you ever do things that are outside your normal routine for the soul purpose of kick starting your creative process? If so, do any of those really stand out?
> 
> What advice would you give someone who is full of creativity but doesn't have as much formal schooling or training?
> 
> What do you think defines the folks that have worked with you and for you in gaming? What is their common element?




1. I wanted to launch Numenera, and I knew that it wasn't the right fit for my previous company, Malhavoc Press, since MP did d20 products pretty much exclusively.

2. Sometimes. Travel works well for me and I have, a few times, just jumped in the car and done a road trip to get a little inspiration.

3. Probably two things--creativity and the ability to self-start/self-manage. No one that I've enjoyed working with has been the kind of person who needed to be closely managed. They all figure out what needs to be done and they do it, on their own. Creativity comes in not just because it's a creative endeavor but because problem-solving is an important aspect to almost any job.


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## phoenixwombat

Can't think of a question atm but I do want to thank you for everything you have contributed to the gaming community for all these years.
Been trying for several years to convince my friends to let me run a campaign using Monte Cook's World of Darkness -_-* They prefer vanilla.


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## killem2

Monte At Home said:


> Well, the roots of D&D are far less in heroics than they are in more mercenary-like behavior, and I know some people play evil campaigns (I've certainly done it), but most people find that non-evil campaigns are probably more easily sustained long-term. You've got to get everyone on board and in the spirit of things, and some players aren't going to want to do that and should never be forced to. I suppose you can say that you dodge a lot of potential issues and problems by assuming the PCs are--more or less--the good guys.




Thank you for responding.

My question was going to be two parts, but of course I wanted to get your general feeling of evil adventures before I asked the second part. It wasn't meant to be a gotcha sorta thing either, so I apologize ahead of time if you feel it is.

After playing as I mentioned the Way of the Wicked series which actually strongly suggests a DM/GM ban all Chaotic Alignments and Good Alignments from character creation and stick with LE/LN/N/NE alignments, is it really that players prefer good modules over evil or is it that players don't fully understand the 3.5 Alignment system and thus play character poorly resulting in failed campaigns?  If so, what is a Dungeon Master/Game Master to do when they genuinely have a promising evil AP to bring to the table?  Do you have suggestions for a better alignment system in 3.5 or ideas that you had during your 3.5 days that at one time might have been promising?


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## Monte At Home

Willie the Duck said:


> Hi Monte, big fan. Loving my current Numenera campaign.
> 
> I don't know if this is an appropriate question, and I'll let you frame it any way you want. On the subject of D&D 3rd edition--is there anything you wish you had done differently for that edition?




Oh I suppose there's a long list. Some things needed better explanations. There are things discussed in the DMG, for example, that were meant to be guidelines, not rules. (Things like magic item pricing, XP awards, wealth per level, etc.) These were supposed to be tools to help DMs, not a way to regulate things that probably should vary from table to table.

Some of 3E--particularly NPC and creature creation--is too complex. They make DM prep a real chore.

There's a few hinky rules or spell descriptions or whatnot here or there.

But for the most part, I'm really, really proud of that work.


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## Monte At Home

DragonMasterDean said:


> Hi Monte!
> 
> Long time fan of your D&D work and have looked at some of the new stuff. I think the Book of Vile Darkness was inspired and did you have a lot of input on the Fiendish Codex?  And Ghostwalk is one of my favorite settings. On Retro stuff, trying to do Paladin in Hell in 3.5. Any suggestions?




Thank you. Other than some of my material that was picked up or used as a genesis, I had no input on Fiendish Codex.

Paladin in Hell is absolutely a favorite of mine. I don't know if there's suggestions that I have beyond anything for high-level 3E: be prepared for big numbers and the PCs having a really, really wide variety of options for overcoming a lot of challenges. Maybe considerably more than 2E, which Paladin in Hell was written for.


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## Dimitri Mazieres

Hi Monte!

I was a eager follower of your work back in the d20 era and really liked your design philosophy.

Now, on to the questions:

1) Game mechanics/design-wise, what were the issues that contributed to your retiring from the DnD 5e project, if any? (I'm not interested in internal politics or personal aspects, just game design ones).

2) What is your opinion on the finished DnD 5e ruleset?


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## strider13x

Why don't we see more universal non- genre specific systems? Is it too difficult or do you find it easier to design a game when emulating a genre?


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## Dahak

A follow on to some of the earlier questions about the limited license -- would you consider lowering the cost of the limited license for items that only use the Cypher System Rulebook (when that license goes live)? The $100 fee for Numenera or The Strange makes a lot of sense because it has the value add of allowing setting elements from one of the two MCG IPs to be used. But it does seem a little steep if we're providing our own IP. I'm not saying it needs to be free, but just even bringing it back to the older $50 fee would seem more reasonable and still keep a "gated community" feel.


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## Eoris

Dear Monte, 

As a Colombian (south america)  rpg developer who first came into gaming with trpgs via Planescape I must say, it is a wondrous honour and pleasure to have a close approximation to you and your work. I just want to say your life's work is awesome and inspiring and an inspiration. You and your team have always been part of great memories we cherish here in the mountains.

Best wishes, 

Daniel Torres


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## Monte At Home

kahnjl said:


> I'm not trying to get you in trouble, but since this is an am*A*...
> 
> Can you expand on this a little bit? What made it so rueful?




I don't know how it could get me into trouble, so no worries.

Basically, I left WotC in 2001 for many reasons, but mainly because it had become very corporate and political. No big grudges or anything--it just wasn't for me. When WotC approached me to come back for 5e in 2011 (as a contractor), I was told everything was different. I was told that the environment was totally free of any of the corporate bs of the past and a great place for creativity. I was told we'd be revitalizing the whole game, and that this included amazingly cool things like bringing back Dragon magazine to print, reestablishing ties with the old guard (Zeb Cook, Tracy Hickman, Jeff Grubb, etc. maybe as consultants), beefing up the in-house staff (primarily with hiring back people with a lot of solid experience), and creating an aggressive initial release schedule with high-quality adventures and other products created by an in-house staff. In short, focusing specifically on the tabletop D&D experience, and not on licensing to video games, movies, and other things.

It was within a year there that I discovered that none of this was actually going to happen. Now, to be clear, I'm not saying I was lied to. I'm a realist and I know plans change. But a complete reversal of that initial plan--that is to say, a focus entirely on licensing the brand and turning D&D from a game and into a property--that wasn't something I wanted to be a part of, particularly in what turned out to be a disappointingly difficult (extraordinarily political) work environment. 

Again, no big grudges at the time (other than, as a lifelong fan of the D&D game, I'm deeply saddened by the change of focus... but in retrospect they might have been inevitable). It just wasn't for me.


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## Monte At Home

Larcher said:


> Nice talking to you at Gencon, and here in Brazil. Really some good mechanics in the Cypher rulebook.
> 
> MMG is doing a lot of rulebooks, a great deal of settings. Any plans on big adventures?
> 
> And is there a plan for more settings for Cypher, like Medieval Fantasy or Horror game?




Thank you. 

1. We've done two campaign-style adventures, one for Numenera (The Devil's Spine) and one for The Strange (The Dark Spiral). It's possible we'll do more, but no immediate plans.

2. Yes, we'll be putting together some kind of support for the CSR and it will be some kind of cool sourcebook that shows off the system's strengths, but we haven't nailed it all down yet. (One of the great things about being a small company is that we can be very agile, and react to the audiences' needs quite quickly.)


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## Monte At Home

Knightfall said:


> Hi Monte,
> 
> A quick question about the Cypher System. Do you think you'll ever do a 'lite' version of the system? Would that even be possible with how the system is currently designed?
> 
> I will admit to not following ever part of the system's development, so if such a product is already in the planning stage or exists somewhere where I haven't seen it, then forgive my ignorance.
> 
> Cheers!




We are putting the finishing touches on a game for families and in particular very young kids called No Thank You, Evil!. It is a "lite" version of the Cypher System. It might be too (?) light for most experienced gamers in a game without kids, but I don't know. One thing to remember is that the Cypher System itself is already very light--it only takes a handful of pages to cover the whole thing. The Cypher System Rulebook is only so big because there are so many different character choices. By way of analogy, you could think of the 3E D&D feat system. The system is easy (1 feat every three levels), but it takes up a lot of pages because there are lots to choose from.


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## Tequila Sunrise

Hi Monte! I'm not familiar with your recent work, but I've been an avid PS fan since getting my grubby little hands on the boxed CS back in the 90s. So thank you for your contribution, and thanks for answering all these questions that I'm sure you've answered a million times already!

1. Which PS themes do you find the most compelling/fun/distinctive?

2. Being a conglomeration of scattered lore written by dozens of D&D authors over the course of twenty years, did you ever feel creatively constrained by that history?

3. Is there anything in particular about PS that you're proud of? That stand out in your mind as great things, even if created by someone else?

4. Is there anything in particular about PS that you'd do differently, if you had your druthers? (Or maybe you already have with Numenara, or some other game I haven't played!)


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## Monte At Home

GrissTheGnome said:


> How is the progress on the Torment game?  If I remember correctly your going to work on that a bit, is that part done, and if so how do you feel about it?
> 
> One of the things I have grown to appreciate in my old age is giant super adventures.  I'm currently working through a 3rd Edition adventure with my home group.  And on my bucket list is to do "Eternal Lies" for Trail of Cthulhu.  Super adventures are probably a pain in the butt to create, but they raise the chances of me running something considerably.  Any plans on making one for Numenera or the Strange?
> 
> Also I'm madly in love with the Strange, it looks like I'm going to get to play in a game soon.  I know your doing the Numenera Kickstarter so that is probably the focus at the moment, but any hints of the future of that line would be awesome.





1. Going well. Just saw a sneak peek at some of the beginning play-throughs. My work is mostly done, other than a general approval of the whole thing, which is obviously ongoing.

2. We did a long adventure for each line--The Devil's Spine and The Dark Spiral. It's possible that people interested in a "super-adventure" missed these because they are each 96 pages. For a much more complex system, like D&D or Pathfinder, a "super-adventure" is probably twice that. But for simple systems such as these, without super long stat blocks or long discussions of tactics or whatever, you just don't need as much space.

3. Cool. We just released Worlds Numberless and Strange, which is a big hardcover detailing a whole bunch of recursions. After that is Strange Revelations, which is a collection of short adventures meant to require little or no prep time for the GM. After that is a still-unnamed book full of various equipment, cyphers, and artifacts for all the different recursions (different genres, time periods, etc). That last book could see a lot of use by anyone running the Cypher System to be honest!


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## Monte At Home

Lapasta said:


> Hi Monte!
> 
> I'm a Kickstarter backer for Numenera. First I would like to tell that when I saw the announcement for The Strange I was disappointed that you would already be moving on from Numenera, even before the books were all out. I'm glad now to see that I was wrong, as you just announced even more books for Numenera.
> 
> About these three new books: why did you choose to put them as expansions to Numenera and not just campaigns for use with the Cypher System? Isn't Numenera already big enough? (Not that I would prefer the other way, just want to understand why). In special the one on other planes go near the theme of The Strange (or doesn't it?).
> 
> Also, how weird will the Into the Night be?
> 
> I'm also a backer for Torment: Numenera. How involved are you in the development of the game? Do you know the storyline only or also the details of the plot? And do you think you will see an increase in the sales of Numenera (book) when the PC game is out?
> 
> I am a long time fan of Planescape: Torment, but have never played tabletop Planescape. I have recently tried to read the old AD&D books and found them hard to digest by modern standards. Will into the Outside make for a similar experience, but with a fresh take on it?




1. I have to admit, I'm confused by your question. At first you seem like you're saying there isn't enough for Numenera, and then that there's too much? In any event, I can say that the books that are part of the new Numenera line are very specific to Numenera and the Ninth World. Into the Deep, for example, isn't a generic book on underwater adventures, but a setting book specifically focused on the oceans of the Ninth World, which get little coverage in any prior supplement. Into the Outside isn't really like The Strange (which focuses on realities spawned by real world fiction) or Planescape (which is very fantasy-based, with myths, religion, alignment, and whatnot being the prime focus). Extra-dimensional realities have always been a Numenera thing (lots of the creatures have extradimensional origins, for example), and has a very specific feel.

2. Very weird.

3. I wrote a small part, and I kind of oversee the whole thing to ensure compatibility with the world. I do know those details but I'm not at liberty to reveal any of them. Hopefully the game exposes Numenera to a whole new audience. We'll see!

4. I tried to lump this in with the first question a bit. Into the Outside won't be very Planescape-like except in that I think overall Numenera and Planescape have a shared sensibility in the sense of wonder and the mysterious.


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## Monte At Home

turkeygiant said:


> Hi,
> 
> Do you think there will be a setting expansion for Numenera that presents a more "organised" corner of the ninth world, something that really draws me to a setting is when you can see the relationships between the different factions and nations on a large scale rather than just presenting them each as their own little concept that ends at the border of the village/city/nation? Golarion and Forgotten realms are usually my examples for diverse settings that still feel like interconnected worlds, but for that matter The Strange does it really well too tying many of the recursions back to the overarching interests of the Estate, Quiet Cabal, OSR, etc. One of my struggles with getting a Numenera game going has been that there are a million great ideas for a one off game or couple session arc, but I have a hard time trying to draw more long term stories and interests out of the fluff for the Steadfast.




Golarion and Forgotten Realms are very different from the Ninth World, in that they are far older and in some ways more established. (Although the Ninth World is a billion years in the future, most of that time the Earth was ruled by other civilizations that rose and fell, or it was the time in between. The Ninth World is only a few thousand years old at most.) The Ninth World is--in a way--almost post-apocalyptic in its core nature, with people just now kind of organizing and developing lines of communication and travel. The PCs then can be at the forefront of building the world and creating relationships between the disparate and isolated locations. This is, of course, a very deliberate move away from the settings you reference, for three reasons.
1. It's a very different world with a different story. I've done the very interconnected kind of setting (Ptolus, for example), and this is a different take.
2. I want to create settings where the GM has a lot of room to expand and create without fear that some later sourcebook is going to come along and tell him his creation is wrong. 
3. Lots of GMs don't want a setting so hyper detailed that we know where Elminster goes to lunch on Tuesdays but not Thursdays. (And some do. And there are great products, like FR, for those GMs.) These kinds of settings are fun, but don't always have the aura of mystery and the unknown that I wanted the Ninth World to have. I wanted the Ninth World to be more like the setting of a Clark Ashton Smith or Gene Wolf novel, where you never really know what's going to be around the next bend.


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## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> Dear Monte,
> 
> 
> 1. Imagine if you could run a dream game for 5 players. These players can come from any time and be real or fictional. Who would those 5 players be and what game would you run?
> 
> 2. What kinds of things are you afraid of/if you had a phobia, what would it be?
> 
> 3. When you are a player in an RPG, do you tend to gravitate towards any kind of class or concept?
> 
> 4. Is it in the MCG parameters of things to come to have some Metaplot campaign for Numenera or The Strange? I think about stuff like a Ruk Incursion for The Strange or Rise of the Abhumans in Numenera.
> 
> 5. What other game systems do you think are pushing the RPG industry forward?
> 
> Iadace
> 
> Desh-Rae-Halra




1. Oh boy. That seems like the kind of question I might ponder for days and still have a different answer from one minute to the next. For now, I'll say I'll run a game for Grant Morrison, Alan Grant (somehow I'll make them get along), Robert Anton Wilson, Jack Parsons, and Jim Morrison, and we'll play Dark Matter. Although I'd probably use a different rules system. 

2. I don't like crowds, but I don't think it's an actual phobia.

3. I like any character that has the option to do things out of the box. In D&D, this often means wizard, because I can use a spell in a new and unexpected way. In superhero games, this is often almost any character. I like creative solutions to problems. I also sometimes like the talky kind of character with lots of contacts and ability to influence people, but sometimes I can be content to be the guy who hangs back or researches in the library. Honestly, though, I enjoy all characters and just like playing and being part of the game.

4. It's important to have backstory and mystery, I think, but I don't think of those in terms of metaplots, because those are mysteries for each group to deal with (or not). They aren't things we're going to reveal or solve for you (which is how I usually see the term "metaplot" used).

5. That's an interesting question. I am tempted to say "all of them," but I'm just as tempted to say "none of them." That's mostly because I'm not what "forward" means, and if it is actually a goal. I like, no... I LOVE new ideas and concepts, but I also think that they don't invalidate the old ones. I don't think that 3E D&D, for example, invalidated 1E or 2E. I can sit down tonight and have a great time playing OD&D or original Traveller. Or some brand new game that just showed up on the shelf, like Cypher System Rulebook. I think new systems give new options and opportunities, but I don't think we're being pushed in any one direction or another. I hope that makes sense. It's actually kind of a complex topic for me and a quick answer like this might not really explain my position well.


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## Monte At Home

Fabio Andrea Rossi said:


> Hi Monte and thanks especially for Numenera and A Hero's Tale (wish there were more of such high quality drag-n-drop scenarios), here a question I am really curious about,if you can answer it: what are the main things you would have done differently in 5e? It seems to be doing fairly well and I'm liking it , still I'd live to know the "what if" scenario, there may be treasure to steal in those dangerous caves...




Thanks.

To answer your question I'd have to know more about 5e. I know it's weird, but I haven't read it. I'm told by those who would know that it's not all that different than the version I'm last familiar with from my time working on it, so I guess... not too much? I'm sure it's a great game. Lots of talent behind it.


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## Monte At Home

Dionysos said:


> Is there any chance of a Diamond Throne setting book for Cypher System? I see you are not much for converting AU to 5e, but it is a fabulous setting and it would be great in your current system.




Thanks. No much chance from me, I'm afraid. I've got lots of new ideas I'm excited about, and less interested just reiterating different versions of the same material again and again. 

Kind of like I said a question or two earlier, though, I don't see the passage of time adversely affecting rpg material. I don't think there's anything wrong with Ptolus, AU, or anything else I've worked on in their original forms. That said, if you really love Cypher System, the good news is, the system's so easy that converting it using the Cypher System Rulebook would be super easy. I bet most GMs could do it on the fly, actually.


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## Monte At Home

phoenixwombat said:


> Can't think of a question atm but I do want to thank you for everything you have contributed to the gaming community for all these years.
> Been trying for several years to convince my friends to let me run a campaign using Monte Cook's World of Darkness -_-* They prefer vanilla.




Thank you for saying so. I sincerely mean it when I say that that means a lot to me.


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## Monte At Home

killem2 said:


> Thank you for responding.
> 
> My question was going to be two parts, but of course I wanted to get your general feeling of evil adventures before I asked the second part. It wasn't meant to be a gotcha sorta thing either, so I apologize ahead of time if you feel it is.
> 
> After playing as I mentioned the Way of the Wicked series which actually strongly suggests a DM/GM ban all Chaotic Alignments and Good Alignments from character creation and stick with LE/LN/N/NE alignments, is it really that players prefer good modules over evil or is it that players don't fully understand the 3.5 Alignment system and thus play character poorly resulting in failed campaigns?  If so, what is a Dungeon Master/Game Master to do when they genuinely have a promising evil AP to bring to the table?  Do you have suggestions for a better alignment system in 3.5 or ideas that you had during your 3.5 days that at one time might have been promising?




I honestly don't know the answer. 

I remember at one point toying with an alignment system that put a numerical, 1-10 rating on each aspects of your alignment. So if you're just a little bit evil but really chaotic, you'd be C7 E1, for example. Only nonhumans (like demons or angels) would get above a 7. Obviously I chucked this idea because for most people it's needlessly complex. But it does have the virtue of conveying the difference between a merchant who embezzles from the orphanage (evil, but not super evil) and some murderous psychopath (pretty evil) and distinguishes both from Demogorgon.

I don't know if that helps, but it's a starting point to at least think about how there might be characters with the big letter E in their alignment box but that they're still a playable character. Who knows, they might even have some honestly admirable traits. I guess the point is, there is nuance involved here, and many degrees without going immediately to the absolute.


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## Monte At Home

Dimitri Mazieres said:


> Hi Monte!
> 
> I was a eager follower of your work back in the d20 era and really liked your design philosophy.
> 
> Now, on to the questions:
> 
> 1) Game mechanics/design-wise, what were the issues that contributed to your retiring from the DnD 5e project, if any? (I'm not interested in internal politics or personal aspects, just game design ones).
> 
> 2) What is your opinion on the finished DnD 5e ruleset?




1. There were no mechanics or design issues that influenced my decision. My codesigners at the time were top-notch and the game was great.

2. As I said earlier, although it probably seems strange, I have not read or played the published versions of 5e. Based on the team, I'm certain it's very good.


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## Monte At Home

strider13x said:


> Why don't we see more universal non- genre specific systems? Is it too difficult or do you find it easier to design a game when emulating a genre?




Well, I just designed and released one called the Cypher System. They are difficult, in a way, because they need to be flexible to cover a lot of contingencies. Covering Superman, Harry Potter, R2D2, and just an average Joe all with same mechanics, and yet making them all potentially fun to play takes a certain kind of game. 

The other thing to consider is that some players just don't care about game mechanics and just want a cool setting. A "generic" system will never be of interest to them.


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## Monte At Home

Dahak said:


> A follow on to some of the earlier questions about the limited license -- would you consider lowering the cost of the limited license for items that only use the Cypher System Rulebook (when that license goes live)? The $100 fee for Numenera or The Strange makes a lot of sense because it has the value add of allowing setting elements from one of the two MCG IPs to be used. But it does seem a little steep if we're providing our own IP. I'm not saying it needs to be free, but just even bringing it back to the older $50 fee would seem more reasonable and still keep a "gated community" feel.




At this point, I'm going to refer all licensing questions to Charles Ryan, Monte Cook Games' COO. You'll find the link to contact him on our website, montecookgames.com.


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## Monte At Home

Eoris said:


> Dear Monte,
> 
> As a Colombian (south america)  rpg developer who first came into gaming with trpgs via Planescape I must say, it is a wondrous honour and pleasure to have a close approximation to you and your work. I just want to say your life's work is awesome and inspiring and an inspiration. You and your team have always been part of great memories we cherish here in the mountains.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Daniel Torres




Thank you so, so much. That really means a lot to me.


----------



## Eoris

I mean it. 

By the way, do you have suggestions for a second edition of a book in which you are trying to capture the esssence of an entire universe without it being so big that it will alienate new players into feeling a sense of "what can I do here"? I know its a weird question, but your games (planescape and Numenera) always had this feeling of universality and vastness, and yet they felt accessible somehow.


----------



## Monte At Home

Tequila Sunrise said:


> Hi Monte! I'm not familiar with your recent work, but I've been an avid PS fan since getting my grubby little hands on the boxed CS back in the 90s. So thank you for your contribution, and thanks for answering all these questions that I'm sure you've answered a million times already!
> 
> 1. Which PS themes do you find the most compelling/fun/distinctive?
> 
> 2. Being a conglomeration of scattered lore written by dozens of D&D authors over the course of twenty years, did you ever feel creatively constrained by that history?
> 
> 3. Is there anything in particular about PS that you're proud of? That stand out in your mind as great things, even if created by someone else?
> 
> 4. Is there anything in particular about PS that you'd do differently, if you had your druthers? (Or maybe you already have with Numenara, or some other game I haven't played!)




Thanks!

1. I liked the wild, almost limitless imagination involved, and the sense of wonder, which I think was needed for D&D at the time. I liked the sense of mystery, and that not all of them--in fact, many of them--were not solved for the DM, but left up to him or her and the game group.

2. Sure. But that's always going to be true of any shared-world environment, particularly for one with different sensibilities at play. For example, 1E operated on the paradigm that you didn't go to the planes until you were very high level. PS tried to make it a place where you could start your 1st level character. That changes a lot of things.

3. Tons and tons of things. I still like Dead Gods from start to finish. Sigil itself (created by Zeb) is a work of genius, from the torus shape to the factions to the Lady to the dabu and everything else. There are also little things that most people don't remember, like the Temple of the Captive God, or Xanxost, or a million other things. Good memories for sure.

4. Some of the complexities that came from the example in #2, like the changes to spell effects based on the plane you were on, or the loss of cleric spells and so on were neat in 1E, but in Planescape were kind of a pain. I wish we could have explored more of the demiplanes or alternate primes, too, where things could get really weird. Years later, under my Malhavoc Press label, I did a sort of Planescape reunion and brought together Colin McComb, Ray Vallese, Wolfgang Baur, Michele Carter, myself and even Zeb to create a book called Beyond Countless Doorways. It was a d20 book about other planes, but could easily be used in Planescape for demiplanes, alternate primes, Abyssal layers, and so on.


----------



## Monte At Home

Eoris said:


> I mean it.
> 
> By the way, do you have suggestions for a second edition of a book in which you are trying to capture the esssence of an entire universe without it being so big that it will alienate new players into feeling a sense of "what can I do here"? I know its a weird question, but your games (planescape and Numenera) always had this feeling of universality and vastness, and yet they felt accessible somehow.




I'm not 100% sure I understand the question, but I will say this: players need to know what they're expected to do. That's rule #1 of rpg design. If you can convey what characters do in the setting--preferably in a single, simple sentence--you can make the world as complex as you want. The PCs are at the center of things and all things stretch out from there. Back in the 1E DMG, Gary wrote that the way to start a D&D campaign was to detail the little village where the PCs are, and a nearby dungeon. Then, as the game progresses, you kind of expand things out in ever larger circles around that central starting point. That's good advice even in this (presumably non-D&D) context. Start with the PCs and where they are, nail those details down enough that players get who they are, where they are, and what's going on, and then spread everything out from there.


----------



## Monte At Home

Wow. That was a lot of great questions, guys. Thank you. I made it through all of them though. I'll check back in tomorrow and once a day through this Friday to see if there's more.

And thanks for all the kind words and support. It means a lot.


----------



## Eoris

Awesome, thank you so much. I can't believe I am being answered by the maker of planescape! I made a world some years back, the first Colombian trpg to hit the market. I would love to deliver a copy to you but of course never found the means. If you are interested at all, you may check the site essencerpg.com and let me know if I can have the books delivered. 

Again many thanks from the bottom of my heart!


----------



## Desh-Rae-Halra

Hi Again,

1. I'm wondering if there were alternate titles for Numenera and The Strange, meaning were these the titles from the beginning or were there some on the cutting room floor?
2. Any cool stories about meeting/being around Gary Gygax?
3. Do you forsee a time when the Cypher System will progress into Characters who are Adjective Nouns who Adverb Verbs or any kind of permutation like that?
4. A question about the Cypher System Rulebook. Clearly the mutations from Numenera are not present. I wondered if that was something about sticking to a page count? It seems that for Sci-Fi and Supers Genres, a LOT of those would be useful for emulating other species or the whole Mutant angle on superpowers. 

Thanks


----------



## Varl

Hey Monte. I have some game development questions for ya.

1. If you had to choose one specific game mechanic you found the most difficult to make original to avoid infringements, what would it have been/be?
2. If you could keep and use without legal repercussions one specific game mechanic intact as is, regardless of the game or system it came from, what would it have been/be?


----------



## MortalPlague

Hey Monte!

I don't so much have a question, but a comment.  I really enjoyed my time with 3rd edition; some of the finest moments of my gaming group were on the fields of 3.x, so thank you for your work.

Also, I see someone else asked about the 5th Edition split, so thank you for such a candid and illuminating answer.  I was always curious what had happened to cause the split.


----------



## TarionzCousin

Monte At Home said:


> I remember at one point toying with an alignment system that put a numerical, 1-10 rating on each aspects of your alignment. So if you're just a little bit evil but really chaotic, you'd be C7 E1, for example. Only nonhumans (like demons or angels) would get above a 7. Obviously I chucked this idea because for most people it's needlessly complex. But it does have the virtue of conveying the difference between a merchant who embezzles from the orphanage (evil, but not super evil) and some murderous psychopath (pretty evil) and distinguishes both from Demogorgon.



Where did I see this system in print? Was it in one of the Hallowed Might books? I've looked but I'm exhausted and can't find it right now.

My real question(s):
1. What is it like being named "Monte"? Was it difficult growing up? Were you named after someone? How many other people named Monte have you met?

Thanks for all the great work over the years. I own hardcover versions of all the Might books, Ptolus, Beyond Countless Doorways, Complete Eldritch Might, and a few dozen modules and accessories. I really admire your work.


----------



## off duty ninja

Hey!! I've been a fan of your work since I was a kid. My game group recently came into possession of the numenera book and we've played a few sessions. Just wondering if you could spoil us on a new release of player options and maybe artifact and discoveries? I do a fine enough job of making my own, but I'm really interested in your ideas also. That is all.


----------



## thom_likes_gaming

Uuh, looks like I'm not quite too late yet, splendid.

As someone working in the business (and by the look of things, you seem to be working 20+ hours 7 days a week all year long....), do you actually get a chance to PLAY stuff? What was the last 2 or 3 games (pen&paper, board games, otherwise) that you played that you were not involved in making?

Apologies if that has already been covered.


----------



## Zansy

Hi Monte!
I'm a more recent fan, I played D&D 3.5 quite a bit, and only really notice your name when you joined (and left) the D&D Next Team. That being said, you say a lot of things about your games that I agree with and really enjoy reading your insights. I got Numenera via the REAL DEAL as a birthday gift from my brother (he said it's worth 2 birthday gifts because it took a year after the KS to get here, now that I own the book I most certainly agree with him). This AMA makes for 3 years; I don't think I could've asked for more for my birthday than a chance to talk to you about Numenera. Your insights are innovative and elegant. And I couldn't get enough of what you have to say about Numenera.

Now that I got that out of my system, here are my questions:
1. Even though I'm not that huge a SF fan, I found myself fascinated with Numenera (I'm currently applying for a Numenera PbP, it should be my first on the field experience of the game.) What advice might you have for a clearly interested player taking a step out of his proverbial elements and his comfort zones and trying to get into the vibe of Numenera game?
2. What to you is biggest pet peeve you've ever had to deal with, or witnessed at the game table?
3.To follow up on a much earlier question, in what languages does MCG currently intend/aim to translate their product lines, and I
How high of a priority is it? Though unlikely, I would be thrilled to see Numenera translated to Hebrew eventually - it would make introducing the game to a certain friend a lot easier.
Here's a silly one I've been wanting to ask, but be honest: On "the ORC AND PIE" (KS pledge level back when you funded Numenera) were you at all disappointed or just glad that nobody paid up to throw a pie in your face? If it were up to me me (and if I had the money and the option) I'd have shelled out a grand and flown to Gencon to -share- a slice of pie with THE Monte Cook, actually. ^_^
4. What do you think is the most important skill you think a GM of any game should have/acquire?
5. What kind of music do you listen to? Does it help/hinder your productivity while you do?
6. Not really a question, but I snuck a peek at No Thank You, Evil! And I got to say I love it as far as I could tell from a distance!

Thank you very much for making the AMA, as well as Numenera and even your many contributions to D&D the RPG world. As I mentioned before, this really made my day/week!


----------



## FallenAkriel

Seriously thank you Monte for everything,  you are so humble in your answers. Your work on D&D was always outstanding, Malhavoc Press was amazing back then (bought a lot),  and when MCG cames I back your kickstarters every time you did with blind faith which you delivers more than I expected, i'm still amaze to this day (especially the Numenera Reliquary box). Long live MCG and all your incredible team! The quality of what MCG publish is in the top of the industry and I'm spreading the words as much as I can.

so thank you so much again, you make the rpg world a better place.


----------



## morgajel

Is Dragon+ as much of a disappointment to you as it is to the rest of us? In my mind it's the pinnacle of corporate bs/marketing interference that you mentioned. A 20 page infomercial.


----------



## Monte At Home

Eoris said:


> Awesome, thank you so much. I can't believe I am being answered by the maker of planescape! I made a world some years back, the first Colombian trpg to hit the market. I would love to deliver a copy to you but of course never found the means. If you are interested at all, you may check the site essencerpg.com and let me know if I can have the books delivered.
> 
> Again many thanks from the bottom of my heart!




I will. Good luck with your endeavors!


----------



## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> Hi Again,
> 
> 1. I'm wondering if there were alternate titles for Numenera and The Strange, meaning were these the titles from the beginning or were there some on the cutting room floor?
> 2. Any cool stories about meeting/being around Gary Gygax?
> 3. Do you forsee a time when the Cypher System will progress into Characters who are Adjective Nouns who Adverb Verbs or any kind of permutation like that?
> 4. A question about the Cypher System Rulebook. Clearly the mutations from Numenera are not present. I wondered if that was something about sticking to a page count? It seems that for Sci-Fi and Supers Genres, a LOT of those would be useful for emulating other species or the whole Mutant angle on superpowers.
> 
> Thanks




1. We knew right away that the title of The Strange was the right one, but struggled a bit with Numenera. Originally I was going to call it the Ninth World or some derivation of that. I wrote an article about why I finally went with Numenera. http://www.montecook.com/whats-in-a-name-numenera/

2. Not really. I mean, it was an honor to meet with him and talk to him. Most, but not all, of my contact with him was via correspondence. I was certainly over-the-moon thrilled when he told me that he liked the 3E DMG and that he felt like he had learned things about being a DM. Definitely a highlight of my whole career.

3. The possibility to create longer "sentences" to have more in-depth (and complex) character creation is certainly there.

4. I guess you have to stop somewhere. I can see your point, though. I didn't include them because I was afraid that they muddied the waters a bit. Easy enough to bring them over from Numenera, though.


----------



## Monte At Home

Varl said:


> Hey Monte. I have some game development questions for ya.
> 
> 1. If you had to choose one specific game mechanic you found the most difficult to make original to avoid infringements, what would it have been/be?
> 2. If you could keep and use without legal repercussions one specific game mechanic intact as is, regardless of the game or system it came from, what would it have been/be?




Hmm. I'm not sure I have good answers for either question. I haven't really worked on a project where the first question applies at all--the only times I had to worry about taking prior mechanics and put them into a new game, I had the right to do so (D&D, CoC d20, MC World of Darkness). Even all my Malhavoc Press stuff used the OGL, obviously, so I had the ability to use those rules freely too if I wanted.

As to the second, I'm not really sure. Earlier in the AMA I said I really liked the CoC sanity mechanic, so maybe that one? I haven't really worked on a non-CoC game that really called for it, though.


----------



## Monte At Home

MortalPlague said:


> Hey Monte!
> 
> I don't so much have a question, but a comment.  I really enjoyed my time with 3rd edition; some of the finest moments of my gaming group were on the fields of 3.x, so thank you for your work.
> 
> Also, I see someone else asked about the 5th Edition split, so thank you for such a candid and illuminating answer.  I was always curious what had happened to cause the split.




Thanks. I love hearing about people having fun with games. That's really the whole point of all this!


----------



## Monte At Home

TarionzCousin said:


> Where did I see this system in print? Was it in one of the Hallowed Might books? I've looked but I'm exhausted and can't find it right now.
> 
> My real question(s):
> 1. What is it like being named "Monte"? Was it difficult growing up? Were you named after someone? How many other people named Monte have you met?
> 
> Thanks for all the great work over the years. I own hardcover versions of all the Might books, Ptolus, Beyond Countless Doorways, Complete Eldritch Might, and a few dozen modules and accessories. I really admire your work.




It's funny. When I first was answering the question, I completely forgot that I did indeed publish a version of that in Book of Hallowed Might. Good call.

1. Not really difficult. I was named after the actor Montgomery Clift, but my name's not actually Montgomery, just Monte. I enjoy having an uncommon name. I've met a few Monte's, and thanks to the internet am aware of a number of other Monte Cooks, actually. I imagine that one or more of them has also become aware of some weird game guy with their same name.


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## Monte At Home

off duty ninja said:


> Hey!! I've been a fan of your work since I was a kid. My game group recently came into possession of the numenera book and we've played a few sessions. Just wondering if you could spoil us on a new release of player options and maybe artifact and discoveries? I do a fine enough job of making my own, but I'm really interested in your ideas also. That is all.




Thanks!

Have you checked out our current Kickstarter for a whole new line of Numenera products? A second Character Options book is one of the upcoming stretch goals! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-into-the-ninth-world

If you're new to the game, however, you might not be aware of the first Character Options book, as well as the Technology Compendium, which is what you're asking about on both counts. You can get them in your local game store or our webstore. http://www.montecookgames.com/store/

It's also worth noting that in the current Kickstarter, we have many of our existing products you can get in bundles at a nice discount as add-ons. Perfect for new players.


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## Monte At Home

thom_enworld said:


> Uuh, looks like I'm not quite too late yet, splendid.
> 
> As someone working in the business (and by the look of things, you seem to be working 20+ hours 7 days a week all year long....), do you actually get a chance to PLAY stuff? What was the last 2 or 3 games (pen&paper, board games, otherwise) that you played that you were not involved in making?
> 
> Apologies if that has already been covered.




I play games all the time.

The last three (non-video/computer) games I played that I wasn't involved with were: Boss Monster 2, Forbidden Island, and King of Tokyo. All very fun.


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## GrissTheGnome

I gotta ask Monte, you keep talking about the modified OD&D game you are running.  I've always had this strange fascination with my Rules Cyclopedia so I gotta know.  How have you modified your game?  I vaguely remember a blog post somewhere kinda talking about it, but it wasn't that specific.


----------



## vivsavage

Hi Monte!

1) Will the Player/GM 'divided' rulebooks of the box set be made publicly available?
2) What would your 5e D&D game have been like if you were placed in complete control?
3) If you could design a game based on an existing literary or film source, what would it be?
4) What are some RPGs you currently play besides your own?
5) Given that you designed D&D 3e, and that it spawned countless knock-offs, what is your favorite iteration of the 3e ruleset (besides the stuff you designed)?


----------



## Monte At Home

Zansy said:


> Hi Monte!
> I'm a more recent fan, I played D&D 3.5 quite a bit, and only really notice your name when you joined (and left) the D&D Next Team. That being said, you say a lot of things about your games that I agree with and really enjoy reading your insights. I got Numenera via the REAL DEAL as a birthday gift from my brother (he said it's worth 2 birthday gifts because it took a year after the KS to get here, now that I own the book I most certainly agree with him). This AMA makes for 3 years; I don't think I could've asked for more for my birthday than a chance to talk to you about Numenera. Your insights are innovative and elegant. And I couldn't get enough of what you have to say about Numenera.
> 
> Now that I got that out of my system, here are my questions:
> 1. Even though I'm not that huge a SF fan, I found myself fascinated with Numenera (I'm currently applying for a Numenera PbP, it should be my first on the field experience of the game.) What advice might you have for a clearly interested player taking a step out of his proverbial elements and his comfort zones and trying to get into the vibe of Numenera game?
> 2. What to you is biggest pet peeve you've ever had to deal with, or witnessed at the game table?
> 3.To follow up on a much earlier question, in what languages does MCG currently intend/aim to translate their product lines, and I
> How high of a priority is it? Though unlikely, I would be thrilled to see Numenera translated to Hebrew eventually - it would make introducing the game to a certain friend a lot easier.
> Here's a silly one I've been wanting to ask, but be honest: On "the ORC AND PIE" (KS pledge level back when you funded Numenera) were you at all disappointed or just glad that nobody paid up to throw a pie in your face? If it were up to me me (and if I had the money and the option) I'd have shelled out a grand and flown to Gencon to -share- a slice of pie with THE Monte Cook, actually. ^_^
> 4. What do you think is the most important skill you think a GM of any game should have/acquire?
> 5. What kind of music do you listen to? Does it help/hinder your productivity while you do?
> 6. Not really a question, but I snuck a peek at No Thank You, Evil! And I got to say I love it as far as I could tell from a distance!
> 
> Thank you very much for making the AMA, as well as Numenera and even your many contributions to D&D the RPG world. As I mentioned before, this really made my day/week!




Thanks!

1. Embrace the weird. Also, remember that a game about discovery pretty much demands that you can never discover/understand everything. (In the same way that a game about killing monsters, you can never kill every monster.)
2. Players dominating other players--telling them what to do, not letting them talk, or otherwise diminishing their fun.
3. Currently or soon to come: Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Korean. Hebrew would indeed be cool!

(I was not too disappointed about the Orc and Pie backer level. It was mostly a joke. But thanks for remembering it!)

4. Timing. Timing involves keeping the action moving, but knowing when things need to slow down too. Letting the players agonize over a problem or a puzzle for just the right amount of time. Knowing how to wrap up a session in the allotted time. Making sure everyone gets a chance to do what they want to do. These things are all timing.
5. I'm a huge music fan, with eclectic tastes. Post-Rock, 80s New Wave, Jazz, Ambient, Prog (and Prog Metal), some Classic Rock, Alternative (particularly from 4-5 years ago, but some recent stuff), and occasionally lately I'll get nostalgic and listen to music I heard growing up, which either means 60s (non-rock) or just radio hits from the 70s. I always listen to music while I work.
6. Awesome!


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## Monte At Home

FallenAkriel said:


> Seriously thank you Monte for everything,  you are so humble in your answers. Your work on D&D was always outstanding, Malhavoc Press was amazing back then (bought a lot),  and when MCG cames I back your kickstarters every time you did with blind faith which you delivers more than I expected, i'm still amaze to this day (especially the Numenera Reliquary box). Long live MCG and all your incredible team! The quality of what MCG publish is in the top of the industry and I'm spreading the words as much as I can.
> 
> so thank you so much again, you make the rpg world a better place.




Thank you so much! That's so kind.


----------



## Monte At Home

morgajel said:


> Is Dragon+ as much of a disappointment to you as it is to the rest of us? In my mind it's the pinnacle of corporate bs/marketing interference that you mentioned. A 20 page infomercial.




I'm afraid I just barely know what that is. I haven't seen it. Sorry.


----------



## Monte At Home

GrissTheGnome said:


> I gotta ask Monte, you keep talking about the modified OD&D game you are running.  I've always had this strange fascination with my Rules Cyclopedia so I gotta know.  How have you modified your game?  I vaguely remember a blog post somewhere kinda talking about it, but it wasn't that specific.




I futzed with ability score mods a tiny bit, added thieves (with d20-based thief "skills," not percentile), turned most things that were tables into rolling a d20 with a bonus and a target number, and was slightly more generous to magic users and clerics regarding spells, while keeping random spellbook determination). We also renamed all the spells so that they sound like Jack Vance created all of them, so sleep is "clouds of mystic slumber" or something like that. Very minor stuff, to be honest.


----------



## Monte At Home

vivsavage said:


> Hi Monte!
> 
> 1) Will the Player/GM 'divided' rulebooks of the box set be made publicly available?
> 2) What would your 5e D&D game have been like if you were placed in complete control?
> 3) If you could design a game based on an existing literary or film source, what would it be?
> 4) What are some RPGs you currently play besides your own?
> 5) Given that you designed D&D 3e, and that it spawned countless knock-offs, what is your favorite iteration of the 3e ruleset (besides the stuff you designed)?




1. They are exclusive to the box.
2. Almost impossible to say. Go back to mid-2012 and look at the playtest documents, I guess, but assume a lot more playtest and development. Maybe exactly what got published. I have no idea.
3. I'm not actually a huge fan of working on licensed games, but... maybe Stephen R. Donaldson's The Land.
4. I like FFG's Star Wars game and I'm looking forward to trying Mindjammer. I'll play Call of Cthulhu at the drop of a hat (and am planning on running Masks of Nyarlathotep soon, maybe). I run an occasional OD&D campaign. 
5. Probably 13th Age.


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## Monte At Home

That looks like all for today. I'll check back in tomorrow. (I do these posts so that it's easy for me to see where I left off if there are new questions.)

Thanks, everyone! Enjoy your gaming!


----------



## morgajel

It was the "resurrection" of dragon magazine for IOS and Android as an "app" that appears to be wholly owned by the marketing department. It consisted of infomercial articles followed by advertisements for the infomercial product. almost zero content in the way of maps, critter stats, etc.

If you google for "raging owlbear dragon+ review" you'll see the problem spelled out clearly(I'm still a noob on this board so I can't post links yet, sorry :/)

I think if you gave it a perusal you'd see it as a crystalization of your complaints.


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## morgajel

Bah, I can't even quote properly, that's how much of a noob I am.


----------



## off duty ninja

Thank you so much for the links Monte! I haven't had an opportunity to visit the local game shop, but now I must. I'm totally stoked to have spoken with a true legend of the art. Keep up the greatness dude!


----------



## hawkeyefan

Hey Monte-

First, thanks for all the years of quality gaming material. I'm currently running Dead Gods in my 5E campaign. A great module that I never got to run because our group always move on to the new editions. So I finally decided to just adapt it. It's probably my favorite single adventure, so thanks for that. And our group is having a lot of fun with it...I don't know if I've ever seen my players so creeped out and nervous.

Your answer about the 5 players you'd like to have sounds like one of the most mind-blowing gaming sessions ever. 

Since you mentioned Grant Morrison and Alan Grant, I wanted to see what comics or graphic novels you were into, if any? Only older stuff or anything still being published? Any other creators besides Morrison and Grant that you enjoy?

What about novels? What good books have you read lately? Or does your work prevent you from reading too much?

Thanks for your time!!


----------



## Dark Kain

Hi Monte, I'm a fan since Planescape, currently enjoying Numenera and The Strange

There is a question about "The Strange" setting that it is bugging me since I started playing last year.

How do The Estate agents manage to recognize each other and confirm their identities and rank when visiting recursions different form Earth?
On Earth they have the badges, but nowhere it is stated that the badges can translate (equipment can't translate so I suppose badges cannot) and outside of Earth is often problematic to keep in touch with HQ (the Estate is seriously undermanned to have any good coverage of an important recursion such as Ardeyn, nevermind the near infinite number of minor recursions) so any sort of secret code (that isn't mentioned anywhere, anyway) wouldn't work well, since it couldn't be changed often, even if stolen.

The problem was raised when I was GMing "Tom Mallard's Case" for the first time: at the end of the adventure the players asked some form of identification from the rescured Estate Agent (given what had happened just a little while before it felt a justified request)

Is there something I'm missing? Is there some sort of explanation officially (or unofficially) used when playing at MCG? Are Estate agents supposed to rely on good faith outside of Earth and, possibly, Ruk?


----------



## DragonMasterDean

Thanks so much for the answers. Since a Paladin in Hell is one your favorites, I do have one question. After fighting through all the demons and the balor and get to open the hatch on the deck... how do they get off the ship at that point?  Do they wait until it gets to the Nine Hells and it will dock and extend the gang plank?


----------



## Rabbitball

Hey, Monte!

I would like to ask about a specific project that just recently finished up: The Grande Temple of Jing. There are many of the "heavyweights" of D&D that became part of that book, including you, Jonathan Tweet, Ed Greenwood, and Skip Williams. How did that come together?


----------



## Jason Fehr

Hi Monte, I'm going to ask the question that I know all creative type (and Stephen King in particular) hates. 

Where do you get your ideas? I don't mean how do they pop into your head, but more along the lines of all the little tidbits. For Numenera you have all these little weird happenings, and rumours for each area of the world. They are unique and creative. But even more-so, you have written a ton of material for Numenera and contributed a lot to The Strange, and No Thank You, Evil as well. All in three years. How do you keep that pace?


----------



## KeithK

Hello!  I'm a big fan of your work, especially Numenera.    

Questions:      
1. I'm a big fan of the stripped-down design of the monsters of Numenera where they seem to only have the minimal number of necessary pieces to work as monsters. Can you explain a little of the design philosophy behind that decision?      

2.  Another Numenera question. What made you choose to set characters on various advancement paths rather than go with a "choose off a list" style that is common in games like DnD?      

3.  I apologize if this is a rude question, but how much money do game designers at WotC make? Did making your own game company turn out to be the better option financially? Is licensing a tabletop game to a video-game a good way to offset the diminishing sales of tabletop products?       

4. As a designer, did you find it restricting to work with the "sacred cow" mechanics of DnD like +1 swords that seem a little archaic now?    

Thanks for your time!


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## Eminence_Grise

I was inspired by your weigth loss a few years back and actually got my weigth down by 50 pounds. I've been able to maintain it, but never able to shake more pounds.

How much weigth did you loose? 
What advice do you have for somebody that struggles with motivation?
I think you were a consultant on an activity tracker a few years ago. What happened to that?


----------



## Dahak

You mentioned liking progressive rock/prog metal in an earlier post, and specifically cited Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, and Yes in the Ptolus core. What other bands in that genre do you like?


----------



## jeffh

Hi! Longtime fan, we actually met back at GenCon 2000 and discussed the DMG a bit, but you probably don't remember. Dave Noonan heckled my platypus at the psionics seminar, that would probably be the most memorable thing involving me.

1. I have a highly ambitious RPG most of the way to being designed/written, with some (but not nearly enough) art and graphics, which I'll eventually Kickstart. I discussed it and showed some of the art to Charles, Tammie, and Stan! at your GAMA booth in 2014 and they were very encouraging. Is there any way you'd be interested in giving feedback on this sort of thing, and if so, what would be the best way to facilitate that?

(My current financial means don't allow for much con-going. Had I been at GenCon, I'd have approached you in person about this.)

2. For an unknown in the early stages of trying to publicize a project like this, what's the best way to get my - or more importantly, the game's - name out there?

3. You mentioned earlier that editors are in greater demand than writers or designers. What's a good way to get into that? Any particular companies you'd recommend approaching? Would there be any chance of helping out MCG with a small project such as a Glimmer, or does Shanna pretty much have that covered for you?


----------



## BoyWhoWalks

Hi Monte,

After weeks of being green with envy watching Americans open their new Reliquary box, mine finally turned up in Melbourne, Australia - and boy, was it worth the wait!  And speaking of the weight...

I guess what struck me most was how it simultaneously made me nostalgic for the old boxed campaign settings of the 90s, whilst being completely innovative with its presentation and communication of information.  Is there any chance we'll be seeing a Reliquary for another product - say The Strange or No Thank You, Evil?

I have a group of friends that have never played an RPG in their lives - and I want to run a session of Numenera for them!  How would you go about running a session for people that have never played an RPG before?

You've mentioned in the past that Planescape ended a little more abruptly than you had expected, and you would have liked the opportunity to reunite the Factions after the Faction War.  Can you elaborate on what that story might have been?

Thanks for taking the time to answer!


----------



## Monte At Home

off duty ninja said:


> Thank you so much for the links Monte! I haven't had an opportunity to visit the local game shop, but now I must. I'm totally stoked to have spoken with a true legend of the art. Keep up the greatness dude!




Thanks!


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## Monte At Home

hawkeyefan said:


> Hey Monte-
> 
> First, thanks for all the years of quality gaming material. I'm currently running Dead Gods in my 5E campaign. A great module that I never got to run because our group always move on to the new editions. So I finally decided to just adapt it. It's probably my favorite single adventure, so thanks for that. And our group is having a lot of fun with it...I don't know if I've ever seen my players so creeped out and nervous.
> 
> Your answer about the 5 players you'd like to have sounds like one of the most mind-blowing gaming sessions ever.
> 
> Since you mentioned Grant Morrison and Alan Grant, I wanted to see what comics or graphic novels you were into, if any? Only older stuff or anything still being published? Any other creators besides Morrison and Grant that you enjoy?
> 
> What about novels? What good books have you read lately? Or does your work prevent you from reading too much?
> 
> Thanks for your time!!




Glad you're having fun.

I'm a huge comics fan, and I have been since I was young. I'm a fan of Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker, Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman, and many others.

Right now I'm about halfway finished with a novel called The Waking Engine by David Edison. Before that I read City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. Both are good and I recommend them. I'm also reading Mark Z. Danielewski's latest novel (House of Leaves is a huge favorite of mine), but it's taking me a while.


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## Monte At Home

Dark Kain said:


> Hi Monte, I'm a fan since Planescape, currently enjoying Numenera and The Strange
> 
> There is a question about "The Strange" setting that it is bugging me since I started playing last year.
> 
> How do The Estate agents manage to recognize each other and confirm their identities and rank when visiting recursions different form Earth?
> On Earth they have the badges, but nowhere it is stated that the badges can translate (equipment can't translate so I suppose badges cannot) and outside of Earth is often problematic to keep in touch with HQ (the Estate is seriously undermanned to have any good coverage of an important recursion such as Ardeyn, nevermind the near infinite number of minor recursions) so any sort of secret code (that isn't mentioned anywhere, anyway) wouldn't work well, since it couldn't be changed often, even if stolen.
> 
> The problem was raised when I was GMing "Tom Mallard's Case" for the first time: at the end of the adventure the players asked some form of identification from the rescured Estate Agent (given what had happened just a little while before it felt a justified request)
> 
> Is there something I'm missing? Is there some sort of explanation officially (or unofficially) used when playing at MCG? Are Estate agents supposed to rely on good faith outside of Earth and, possibly, Ruk?




I suppose it's the same issue you run into in any agent/espionage game--how do you know who to trust? Fortunately, you have one thing on your side--the vast majority of people in Ardeyn, and probably even Ruk, have likely never heard of the Estate. Most of the time, if someone says they're from the Estate, it's probably true. But the default assumption is that you talk to people, maybe get confirmations from the Estate when possible.

Of course, if you wanted, it wouldn't be that hard to institute either a lo-fi solution like passphrases (that's probably pretty likely) or a high-fi solution like special items that translate with you or something.


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## Monte At Home

DragonMasterDean said:


> Thanks so much for the answers. Since a Paladin in Hell is one your favorites, I do have one question. After fighting through all the demons and the balor and get to open the hatch on the deck... how do they get off the ship at that point?  Do they wait until it gets to the Nine Hells and it will dock and extend the gang plank?




Oh boy. I wrote that in... 1997 or so? It's hard for me to recall details. But what you state sounds right. The ship kind of does its own thing.


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## Monte At Home

Rabbitball said:


> Hey, Monte!
> 
> I would like to ask about a specific project that just recently finished up: The Grande Temple of Jing. There are many of the "heavyweights" of D&D that became part of that book, including you, Jonathan Tweet, Ed Greenwood, and Skip Williams. How did that come together?




The guy behind that was Danny O'Neil. He knew all of us and contacted us. For me, it sounded fun, happened to fit into my schedule, and paid well, so I said yes. It was a long time in the making, though. I think I wrote my small part probably... 3 years ago? Maybe 2 years ago. A while, though. It's big and it must have been a lot of work to put it all together.


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## Monte At Home

Jason Fehr said:


> Hi Monte, I'm going to ask the question that I know all creative type (and Stephen King in particular) hates.
> 
> Where do you get your ideas? I don't mean how do they pop into your head, but more along the lines of all the little tidbits. For Numenera you have all these little weird happenings, and rumours for each area of the world. They are unique and creative. But even more-so, you have written a ton of material for Numenera and contributed a lot to The Strange, and No Thank You, Evil as well. All in three years. How do you keep that pace?




I never know how to answer that question. The truth is probably, that's just the way my mind works--lots of weird little ideas. It probably helps that ideas are what I value most in what I write, what I read, what I watch, and so on. Probably like a professional chef's relationship with food.


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## Monte At Home

KeithK said:


> Hello!  I'm a big fan of your work, especially Numenera.
> 
> Questions:
> 1. I'm a big fan of the stripped-down design of the monsters of Numenera where they seem to only have the minimal number of necessary pieces to work as monsters. Can you explain a little of the design philosophy behind that decision?
> 
> 2.  Another Numenera question. What made you choose to set characters on various advancement paths rather than go with a "choose off a list" style that is common in games like DnD?
> 
> 3.  I apologize if this is a rude question, but how much money do game designers at WotC make? Did making your own game company turn out to be the better option financially? Is licensing a tabletop game to a video-game a good way to offset the diminishing sales of tabletop products?
> 
> 4. As a designer, did you find it restricting to work with the "sacred cow" mechanics of DnD like +1 swords that seem a little archaic now?
> 
> Thanks for your time!




1. First and foremost, I wanted Numenera (the Cypher System) to be low GM prep and yet really encourage GM's to create their own stuff. The way to do that, it seemed to me, was to create a system where the mechanical elements were very simple, and thus the GM could focus on the ideas behind the creature or NPC. That meant having a few elements (in this case level) carry a lot of weight but also to allow for an infinite number of exceptions. Thus, this creature is level 5, but level 3 for defense because its big and slow, and level 6 for interactions because it's quite charming. Or whatever.

2. Simplicity. There's still some choice involved at each tier, but the game helps you direct yourself on a thematic path at the same time (mostly through the focus you choose). That said, it's all so simple and straightforward that you can mix and match as you want to, sub in other abilities, or whatever. This is discussed in the optional rules chapter.

3. I haven't worked there for quite some time, but as my friend Bruce Cordell said recently in a podcast, enough to live a very comfortable middle-class lifestyle, even in Seattle, which is a very expensive city. However, when I left WotC in 2001 to create Malhavoc Press, this was a good choice financially, and even though they paid me as a contractor in 2012 much more than they did as a designer in 2001, when I left and created Monte Cook Games, this was also a step up financially. Particularly because of the license to do the video game, but that was really sort of icing on the cake in that regard. But honestly, how much money I make is far less important to me than the work I get to do and the environment in which I get to do it. I would never have gone back the second time if it weren't for the fact that D&D meant so much to me on a really fundamental level.

4. No. I love D&D and all its core elements.


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## Monte At Home

Eminence_Grise said:


> I was inspired by your weigth loss a few years back and actually got my weigth down by 50 pounds. I've been able to maintain it, but never able to shake more pounds.
> 
> How much weigth did you loose?
> What advice do you have for somebody that struggles with motivation?
> I think you were a consultant on an activity tracker a few years ago. What happened to that?




I'm glad you were inspired. I lost about 50 pounds about 4-5 years ago. Although I'll be honest, I'm struggling right now because I've gained a bit of that back just due to working too much (for me, working means sitting on my butt, so that makes it hard).

I think realistic goals are the key. Don't strive to lose 50 pounds, strive to lose 5. And then when you do, celebrate that achievement and go for another 5.

I am still on the advisory board for a program called FIX, which has a game called Utilifit which is great for encouraging daily physical activity. http://www.fix-fit.com/


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## Monte At Home

Dahak said:


> You mentioned liking progressive rock/prog metal in an earlier post, and specifically cited Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, and Yes in the Ptolus core. What other bands in that genre do you like?




Off the top of my head, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, ELP, Transatlantic, Rush, Pink Floyd... there are probably others.


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## Monte At Home

jeffh said:


> Hi! Longtime fan, we actually met back at GenCon 2000 and discussed the DMG a bit, but you probably don't remember. Dave Noonan heckled my platypus at the psionics seminar, that would probably be the most memorable thing involving me.
> 
> 1. I have a highly ambitious RPG most of the way to being designed/written, with some (but not nearly enough) art and graphics, which I'll eventually Kickstart. I discussed it and showed some of the art to Charles, Tammie, and Stan! at your GAMA booth in 2014 and they were very encouraging. Is there any way you'd be interested in giving feedback on this sort of thing, and if so, what would be the best way to facilitate that?
> 
> (My current financial means don't allow for much con-going. Had I been at GenCon, I'd have approached you in person about this.)
> 
> 2. For an unknown in the early stages of trying to publicize a project like this, what's the best way to get my - or more importantly, the game's - name out there?
> 
> 3. You mentioned earlier that editors are in greater demand than writers or designers. What's a good way to get into that? Any particular companies you'd recommend approaching? Would there be any chance of helping out MCG with a small project such as a Glimmer, or does Shanna pretty much have that covered for you?




1. I'm afraid I have almost no time to devote to serious consultation. I'm sorry. I do wish you luck! And if you have specific questions, well, I'm doing this AMA through this Friday.

2. Give away stuff for free. Write blog posts that get read and shared by a lot of people. Work on something for someone else and do such a good job that people take notice.

3. Develop an editing portfolio of stuff you've edited, and query companies you want to work with, offering to submit your samples to show your skills. People want editors, but they need to know you can do good work. If you get work, (with permission) use your employers as references so the next employer knows you're good to work with. Monte Cook Games is not currently looking for freelance editing work, but it's good that you asked. Just because we're covered doesn't mean others don't need your skills.


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## Monte At Home

BoyWhoWalks said:


> Hi Monte,
> 
> After weeks of being green with envy watching Americans open their new Reliquary box, mine finally turned up in Melbourne, Australia - and boy, was it worth the wait!  And speaking of the weight...
> 
> I guess what struck me most was how it simultaneously made me nostalgic for the old boxed campaign settings of the 90s, whilst being completely innovative with its presentation and communication of information.  Is there any chance we'll be seeing a Reliquary for another product - say The Strange or No Thank You, Evil?
> 
> I have a group of friends that have never played an RPG in their lives - and I want to run a session of Numenera for them!  How would you go about running a session for people that have never played an RPG before?
> 
> You've mentioned in the past that Planescape ended a little more abruptly than you had expected, and you would have liked the opportunity to reunite the Factions after the Faction War.  Can you elaborate on what that story might have been?
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to answer!




1. Never say never! We have no current plans, but a box like that for The Strange could happen if people wanted it.

2. What I'd do is premake characters for them (use the pretty pregens in the box you just got). The best way to jump in for the first time is by playing, not by making a character. Don't load them up with lots of setting details. Give them the general ideas and the sort of mood of it all. The rest will come later. As much as possible, teach them the game rules as you go along instead of all up front. Learning by doing is much better than learning by listening. And don't make the first session long. Just enough to give them an idea of what it's all about. Hopefully, they'll come back eager for more later.

3. Too much time has passed to remember those details, I'm afraid, but the general idea is that the Factions would come back and restore peace in Sigil, but because they will have made compromises, alliances, and so on, they would have changed. Some would have combined with others while others would have split off into two. A shake up, but one that would have put things mostly back together again, just in a different way.


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## Monte At Home

That's it for today!

Thanks, everyone!


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## Dark Kain

What are the chances for a fractal all about of the Estate? 
Worlds numberless and strange was great and developed well pretty much the entire "Strangeverse"... except for the Estate.


----------



## DragonMasterDean

Luckily I was able to find a hard copy on Ebay and bought it. Didn't get a chance to run it in 2e but it sure is giving the players attacks of shock and awe. I am hoping Ghostwalk will translate to 5e with as much fun. Thank you again for all that you have contributed to D&D. Wouldn't need another player for your OD&D?    And thank you for taking the time to answer as well.


----------



## Oryan77

Hey Monte!

I'm a huge Planescape fan and PS is what got me interested in DMing back in the 90's . I still DM a 3.5 conversion of Planescape to this day. I finished running your Dead Gods adventure about 2 years ago and we spent about 3 years playing it due to a lot of extra filler I added in. 

My question is (if you can remember), what was your inspiration and thought process behind creating all of those fantastic and creative scenarios in Dead Gods? I'm not asking for a chapter by chapter break down (although that would be fascinating to hear). I just mean in general, for any scenarios you think of, how did you think of writing such material?

You may not remember, but back when I was prepping to run Dead Gods, you actually replied to me here on Enworld about how you were a fan of Vault of the Drow which is why you included that scenario in Dead Gods. So I'd like to here about some of the other scenarios. Like why you decided to use particular locations or how you came up with the idea to use particular NPCs. As a creative person myself, I'd love to know your thought process when writing. Or if you want to just blabber about Planescape in general, I won't stop you. 

Thanks! You have always been my favorite RPG designer and I have been inspired by your work for years. Or maybe you stand out to me because your name is easy to recognize and remember. I'm not really sure.


----------



## Emus Graymullet

Hi, my group and I are still running our campaign(s) set in Praemal since a month or two before the core Ptolus book was released. It's such a great setting and resource.

1. Did you create much content (NPCs, dieties, organizations) for that product that wasn't in the campaigns you ran? Or vice versa?
2. Are the lands outside of the Tarsisian Empire fleshed out beyond the blurbs about Uraq et al in the Ptolus: City by the Spire book? (I mean, we've pretty much started world-building beyond the borders without any published content, but I'm curious.)


----------



## Elderbrain

*Planescape NPC Tarsheva Longreach*

Hi, Monte. I have heard that you were the creator of the Planescape NPC character, Tarsheva Longreach.
This NPC never received a write-up for stats, class, level, alignment, Faction, etc. However, if you are indeed the creator of this NPC, I thought you might have statted her and thought I'd ask. Or if you never did, you could do so NOW and post it! I'd be eternally grateful.  (I don't care if they are 2nd Edition stats - that's fine...)

(P.S. If you are not her creator, maybe point me in the right direction as to who to ask?)


----------



## Elrith

Hi Monte, Thanks for all the games. I appreciate the fact that your game products are often the result of at the table play and you haven't rested on past ideas, but have moved onwards to interesting territory. 

I've been debating running Masks of Nyralathotep, which you've mentioned you are as well. I've been debating which system to run it in: I lean towards Trail of Cthulhu instead of Call of Cthulhu as it is, but I'm also tempted by the Cypher system. I think the GM-freedom and the lack of skill "pressure" in the system could free up investigative play. I also think the rewarding of discovery through XP works well for Masks. 

But I really like Trail of Cthulhu's drive mechanics. I'm tempted to port them over, and here's where I am of two minds: I could add an extension to the Cypher sentence, essentially making characters an "adjective noun who verb who believes in noun," but I wonder if adding the additional step is necessary. I think it would be quite reasonable to ask players to define a quality related to the Descriptor or Focus and use that as a mechanic in tandem with the horror options in the Cypher book. 

So I thought I'd pick your brain: if you were running Masks in cypher, would you make alterations?


----------



## Infernal Teddy

Hey Monte,

you've mentioned a few times here that you prefer to do new settings instead of revisiting old material, but have you considered redoing the old Dark Space Setting you wrote for Rolemaster/Spacemaster? It was one of my favorite books of yours, and I'd love to see it done for the Cypher System.

Also, we once talked breifly on Livejournal about the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, just after The Runes of the Earth was released - did you read the rest of the Last Chronicles as well, and what did you think? I admit I found Runes too depressed and too deep in self-pity, and never picked up the rest.

Greetings from Germany, we#re all just waiting for the translation of Numenera to get released


----------



## indigonegative

Mr.Cook
I want to design games. How can I safely spread my ideas around, without worrying someone will steal them? Do I need a contract first? Am I just worrying too much?


----------



## Monte At Home

Dark Kain said:


> What are the chances for a fractal all about of the Estate?
> Worlds numberless and strange was great and developed well pretty much the entire "Strangeverse"... except for the Estate.




Sounds like a cool idea. Did you get the Dark Spiral? That has a lot of additional Estate info. Also, we did a fractal called the Estate Dossiers that was kind of nifty.


----------



## Monte At Home

DragonMasterDean said:


> Luckily I was able to find a hard copy on Ebay and bought it. Didn't get a chance to run it in 2e but it sure is giving the players attacks of shock and awe. I am hoping Ghostwalk will translate to 5e with as much fun. Thank you again for all that you have contributed to D&D. Wouldn't need another player for your OD&D?    And thank you for taking the time to answer as well.




Thanks for the kind words.


----------



## Monte At Home

Oryan77 said:


> Hey Monte!
> 
> I'm a huge Planescape fan and PS is what got me interested in DMing back in the 90's . I still DM a 3.5 conversion of Planescape to this day. I finished running your Dead Gods adventure about 2 years ago and we spent about 3 years playing it due to a lot of extra filler I added in.
> 
> My question is (if you can remember), what was your inspiration and thought process behind creating all of those fantastic and creative scenarios in Dead Gods? I'm not asking for a chapter by chapter break down (although that would be fascinating to hear). I just mean in general, for any scenarios you think of, how did you think of writing such material?
> 
> You may not remember, but back when I was prepping to run Dead Gods, you actually replied to me here on Enworld about how you were a fan of Vault of the Drow which is why you included that scenario in Dead Gods. So I'd like to here about some of the other scenarios. Like why you decided to use particular locations or how you came up with the idea to use particular NPCs. As a creative person myself, I'd love to know your thought process when writing. Or if you want to just blabber about Planescape in general, I won't stop you.
> 
> Thanks! You have always been my favorite RPG designer and I have been inspired by your work for years. Or maybe you stand out to me because your name is easy to recognize and remember. I'm not really sure.




The beginning came about because I wanted to start things off with an adventure that seemed totally unrelated. I wanted the DM to be able to catch the players off-guard. We used to joke that every Planescape adventure could just start off with an old man that says "I'll give you 100 gp if you go save the multiverse." Obviously, that's a joke, but I didn't want the adventure hook to have anything to do with the adventure itself. You go to Yggdrassil for a completely different reason and THEN the adventure really begins. I think I even tell the DM in there to hide the book so the players don't know they're playing an adventure called "Dead Gods."

After that, I wanted an adventure that truly spanned the planes, but that played out more like a murder mystery than a "go get the twenty-three pieces of the thingamabob." The downside to that, I suppose, is that the trail of clues you follow in a mystery like that tend to make for a very linear plot. I also wanted to go to a lot of extremes. I remember thinking, "Orcus/Tenebrous would hide out in the deepest, darkest spot--the bottom of the multiverse. Where would that be?" And I knew I wanted to involve someplace really old, and Pelion seemed to fit that bill.

I also remember that I wanted to do the "make up new characters and play them through a scenario and then your real characters will learn about what happened to them" thing because I'd done that in a home campaign earlier (very different scenario) and it worked really well. I like the change of pace and unique sort of freedom it provides for both players and DM.

And, as you said, I already explained that I am a huge fan of Vault of the Drow.

I guess that's the great thing (one of the great things) about writing an adventure about Orcus. Orcus is so tied into the very essence of D&D in a way that you can create ties to anywhere you want, and you want to tie it into everywhere.


----------



## Monte At Home

Emus Graymullet said:


> Hi, my group and I are still running our campaign(s) set in Praemal since a month or two before the core Ptolus book was released. It's such a great setting and resource.
> 
> 1. Did you create much content (NPCs, dieties, organizations) for that product that wasn't in the campaigns you ran? Or vice versa?
> 2. Are the lands outside of the Tarsisian Empire fleshed out beyond the blurbs about Uraq et al in the Ptolus: City by the Spire book? (I mean, we've pretty much started world-building beyond the borders without any published content, but I'm curious.)




Awesome. Love to hear that.

1. Not a lot. By the time I'd written that book, I was in the middle of running my third Ptolus campaign, so I had a lot of material to draw on. Some of the stuff in the book, of course, never got the focus that it did in the book. You know how PCs are. Sometimes they ignore plot hooks or turn left when there was something really interesting to the right. 

2. I never developed those areas because I made it pretty clear to my players that--for all the reasons given in the book--Ptolus was where the action was. I always envisioned the rest of the world to be very low fantasy but not very D&D like, actually, because all the D&D-isms (dungeons, lots of monsters, lots of demons and undead, high level people running around) are crammed into Ptolus with explanations for why those--sometimes kind of weird--tropes actually exist there. That said, I think you are free to do with the rest of the world as you wish, of course.


----------



## Monte At Home

Elderbrain said:


> Hi, Monte. I have heard that you were the creator of the Planescape NPC character, Tarsheva Longreach.
> This NPC never received a write-up for stats, class, level, alignment, Faction, etc. However, if you are indeed the creator of this NPC, I thought you might have statted her and thought I'd ask. Or if you never did, you could do so NOW and post it! I'd be eternally grateful.  (I don't care if they are 2nd Edition stats - that's fine...)
> 
> (P.S. If you are not her creator, maybe point me in the right direction as to who to ask?)




I did create her, in the Planewalker's Handbook. I wanted to have the voice of someone who had really been all over the multiverse--the quintessential Planescape character. She never had stats. I never wanted to stat her up because if she was meant to be the voice of knowledge, not someone you could fight or even partner with. A character without hit points can never die, if you see what I mean.

That said, in Ptolus I created a character called Sheva Callister. Sheva really was Tarsheva in every way. That means Tarsheva was probably about a 12th level fighter and is the very epitome of the Neutral alignment.

Sheva was also the main character in the Ptolus comic book series I wrote for Marvel. She carried a really evil, really powerful greatsword that she managed to master without being evil herself.


----------



## Monte At Home

Elrith said:


> Hi Monte, Thanks for all the games. I appreciate the fact that your game products are often the result of at the table play and you haven't rested on past ideas, but have moved onwards to interesting territory.
> 
> I've been debating running Masks of Nyralathotep, which you've mentioned you are as well. I've been debating which system to run it in: I lean towards Trail of Cthulhu instead of Call of Cthulhu as it is, but I'm also tempted by the Cypher system. I think the GM-freedom and the lack of skill "pressure" in the system could free up investigative play. I also think the rewarding of discovery through XP works well for Masks.
> 
> But I really like Trail of Cthulhu's drive mechanics. I'm tempted to port them over, and here's where I am of two minds: I could add an extension to the Cypher sentence, essentially making characters an "adjective noun who verb who believes in noun," but I wonder if adding the additional step is necessary. I think it would be quite reasonable to ask players to define a quality related to the Descriptor or Focus and use that as a mechanic in tandem with the horror options in the Cypher book.
> 
> So I thought I'd pick your brain: if you were running Masks in cypher, would you make alterations?




I think any of those three systems would be really cool. I think the Cypher System Rulebook has a lot of horror-specific tools and mechanics that would make Masks pretty fun--specifically the Horror Mode mechanic. I've already begun mulling over the places I'd use that in Masks.

Your idea of adding to the Cypher System's sentence is pretty cool. Probably not specifically necessary for Masks, but a fun idea for any setting, really.


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## Monte At Home

Infernal Teddy said:


> Hey Monte,
> 
> you've mentioned a few times here that you prefer to do new settings instead of revisiting old material, but have you considered redoing the old Dark Space Setting you wrote for Rolemaster/Spacemaster? It was one of my favorite books of yours, and I'd love to see it done for the Cypher System.
> 
> Also, we once talked breifly on Livejournal about the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, just after The Runes of the Earth was released - did you read the rest of the Last Chronicles as well, and what did you think? I admit I found Runes too depressed and too deep in self-pity, and never picked up the rest.
> 
> Greetings from Germany, we#re all just waiting for the translation of Numenera to get released




Concepts from Dark Space have creeped into my work here and there, but I don't currently have a plan to redo the book.

Sadly, I couldn't bring myself to finish the new Thomas Covenant books. They just didn't appeal, as difficult as it is for me to admit that. I read Runes of the Earth and the one after that, and I just couldn't get up the enthusiasm to keep going. Very sad.


----------



## Monte At Home

indigonegative said:


> Mr.Cook
> I want to design games. How can I safely spread my ideas around, without worrying someone will steal them? Do I need a contract first? Am I just worrying too much?




It all depends on what you mean by spreading your ideas around. If you mean submitting ideas to publishers, then yes, you're worrying too much. A real publisher wouldn't do that. Even if you don't want to believe in their good nature, it's simply not worth the time or trouble. If you get hired to write games, you're getting hired in part because of the ideas but just as much if not more to do the work--that is to say, create a publishable manuscript. Why would a publisher steal your ideas and then go through the work of writing them up themselves when they could just get you to do it and get both?

If you mean putting them into a blog or something like that for free, then yes,  players and other bloggers will use them and spread them as well. That's the nature of the Internet. But that's actually what you want to have happen, because people take note of creators who generate that kind of interest.

It also greatly depends on the kind of game design you want to do. RPG design is pretty different from board or card game design, for example (the latter, where you create prototypes and shop them around, has its own "rules" but I'm no expert in that field).


----------



## Monte At Home

Okay guys! Thanks!

I'll stop back in later in the day tomorrow and wrap things up. So if you've got questions, get them in now.

And if you are interested in Numenera, whether you're a current player or someone who's just curious, please check out our current Kickstarter called Into the Ninth World. It's going really well and we're adding new material to what you get on a continuing basis. New players have the chance to get on good deals too, by selecting some of the bundles of past products at a discount as well as getting in on the new deals. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-into-the-ninth-world


----------



## Elderbrain

Monte At Home said:


> I did create her, in the Planewalker's Handbook. I wanted to have the voice of someone who had really been all over the multiverse--the quintessential Planescape character. She never had stats. I never wanted to stat her up because if she was meant to be the voice of knowledge, not someone you could fight or even partner with. A character without hit points can never die, if you see what I mean.
> 
> That said, in Ptolus I created a character called Sheva Callister. Sheva really was Tarsheva in every way. That means Tarsheva was probably about a 12th level fighter and is the very epitome of the Neutral alignment.
> 
> Sheva was also the main character in the Ptolus comic book series I wrote for Marvel. She carried a really evil, really powerful greatsword that she managed to master without being evil herself.




- O.k. Thanks, Monte! I really appreciate it. I'll have to go look at your other stuff, now!  - Elderbrain


----------



## Whizbang Dustyboots

Monte At Home said:


> Awesome. Love to hear that.
> 
> 1. Not a lot. By the time I'd written that book, I was in the middle of running my third Ptolus campaign, so I had a lot of material to draw on. Some of the stuff in the book, of course, never got the focus that it did in the book. You know how PCs are. Sometimes they ignore plot hooks or turn left when there was something really interesting to the right.
> 
> 2. I never developed those areas because I made it pretty clear to my players that--for all the reasons given in the book--Ptolus was where the action was. I always envisioned the rest of the world to be very low fantasy but not very D&D like, actually, because all the D&D-isms (dungeons, lots of monsters, lots of demons and undead, high level people running around) are crammed into Ptolus with explanations for why those--sometimes kind of weird--tropes actually exist there. That said, I think you are free to do with the rest of the world as you wish, of course.



I'm one of the DMs/players in the campaigns Emus is participating in. Love the book and the setting.

1) Beyond the Emperor of the Church declaring himself the Emperor of the Tarsisian Empire, how did the succession crisis play out in your campaigns? I'm ramping up the church intrigue in our campaign, with a push-back over the Emperor of the Church's move coming in our next adventure.

<strike>2) Obviously, the Big Book is VERY big, and there's Secrets of the Delvers Guild and more Ptolus stuff sprinkled through your other Malhavoc works (all of which I think I've tracked down) and some modules for other companies. Is there any chance of additional Ptolus stuff coming, even if it's just a data dump of your old setting info, either in a commercial format or on a blog or the like? This many years in, we've had a lot of fun making the setting our own -- as Emus said, we've had a lot of fun with Uraq and I've run a long-running campaign based on the Prustan Peninsula -- but we'd love more content.</strike> (Asked and answered, sorry.)

3) The Castain/Lothian stuff is great. It offers pseudo-Catholicism for those who want to run medieval church plots without, I think, offending too many players. But it's also VERY dark once you start looking at all the aspects of the story. Is there a definitive "truth" of who Castain is/was and how Lothian factors into it? Likewise, if most of the Castainite clergy just flipped over to Lothianite clergy, does that mean anything about the sincerity of their worship or the possibility of a Castanite heresy within the Church of Lothian?

4) Beyond Countless Doorways is one of those books that has links to Ptolus. Is it intended to be the official cosmology for Praemal, or was that just a fun thing to add on after the fact, when you were assembling that book?

Thanks for doing this. Ptolus remains one of my most prized possessions of my D&D era. I've always been sad that there were no additional volumes of the Year's Best D20, as that book is wall-to-wall greatness. (And, sadly, a number of the books that it reprints material from are impossible to find, even in PDF form now.)


----------



## Whizbang Dustyboots

Ooh, thought of another one: There's one or two references in Ptolus to giants being "from the west" and the like, and their realms there, which I've interpreted as the Lands of the Diamond Throne being located in the distant west, beyond Cherubar. Is this intended, or was it just a nod to that other setting, but not actually how things worked in your game?


----------



## Whizbang Dustyboots

Monte At Home said:


> I never developed those areas because I made it pretty clear to my players that--for all the reasons given in the book--Ptolus was where the action was. I always envisioned the rest of the world to be very low fantasy but not very D&D like, actually, because all the D&D-isms (dungeons, lots of monsters, lots of demons and undead, high level people running around) are crammed into Ptolus with explanations for why those--sometimes kind of weird--tropes actually exist there. That said, I think you are free to do with the rest of the world as you wish, of course.



I've always been somewhat surprised by this. Even leaving aside the possibility of locally interesting stuff happening, you've got the wasteland of a wizard war in Kem, you've got an empire ripping itself in three with violence possible at any moment and, heck, a giant necropolis full of undead under Tarsis, which itself has recently been sacked by barbarians. Right there, that's more interesting stuff going on in more than a few published settings.

We ended up starting in the Prustan Peninsula because the Big Book literally wasn't available at that point, but even there, there's more content for that setting than we've ever fully mined in all the years we've been playing. (The tension between the Old Gods of the Prustan Peninsula and the Church of Lothian is a pretty rich vein, and we've only had one real foray into Kem, for instance.)

Did your campaigns set in the modern day of Ptolus (as opposed to the 2E era of Praemal) never stray beyond the city that much?

And, for what it's worth, the setting works well under both Pathfinder and Castles & Crusades, for all that it's built around 3E assumptions. Good stuff. Even design decisions I thought I disagreed with years ago end up, in the fullness of time, to have been really good instincts on your part (likely because they came out of actual play and not just theory).


----------



## camilaacolide

Silly question I know, but wouldn't you happen to have a copy of the original Ptolous with textured cover and cloth bookmark laying around near you? I just discovered Ptolous in recent years, and I love everything in it. The original version has become kind of a dream book for me... even more so if it comes with your autograph! I'd pay for postage and everything of course, please say yes!!!  =)


----------



## Fildrigar

Hey, Monte.

Back in the early days of 3e, I figuratively fell in love with one of your adventures, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was the first time I felt as if I had been exposed to a truly living dungeon, where things actually seemed to be happening in "real time" while the adventurers were adventuring. Between scripted events happening, and advice for restocking cleared areas I felt like I had finally "leveled up" as a GM. Additionally, there was a vibrant community full of incredibly creative and helpful people on your forums who were always there to offer advice for how to handle situations that arose during play. I still use the lessons I learned from running that campaign ( TWICE! ) today.

Now, I'm often asked where I learned how to better GM, and I feel like all I have to offer people is "read this out of print adventure, and have an AHA moment of your own." Do you have any specific advice, resources, or areas to send people who want to become better GMs?

Fildrigar


----------



## Dahak

For my final questions, let's go back in time...  

1) What was it like working for ICE?

2) Did you live in Charlottesville or were you able to work remotely in that role?

3) Of which Hero System or Rolemaster/MERP product are you most proud from your tenure there?


----------



## Desh-Rae-Halra

I just wanted to say thank you to you (Monte) and to Morrus for putting this together and giving fans this kind of access. I think I have learned a lot just be reading other people's questions and seeing them answered as well as my own.

You mentioned you listen to prog metal. If you haven't checked these out, they would be 2 of my best recommendations:

Redemption: Snowfall on Judgment Day
Symphony X: Iconoclast (Deluxe edition if possible) <- This one should be playing on Ruk!


----------



## jhosmer1

Last question from me: If you were going to run a Cypher game that has the PCs piloting giant robots (perhaps in some pseudo-feudal galactic empire , would you add anything to the Vehicle rules? Or would the giant robots be better as artifacts?


----------



## Desh-Rae-Halra

Ok, a few more:
1. For the Numenera Character Options 2 book (on the current Kickstarter), will we see  Foci that are astronomically based,  like:
 Wields a Singularity or Manipulates Dark Matter?

2. I was a purchaser of Kicking It. I wonder now with more KS experience if you would add other ideas to that?

I also backed at the Unique Character(s) for Numenera and they are still going strong.
Salamandros, a Tough Jack who Exists Partially Out of Phase (I call him The Best Jack in the Game)
and
 Vola, a Rugged Glaive Who Lives In The Wilderness. 

I think it would be cool to offer these kinds of rewards on future Kickstarters. I also loved the Strange Character Cards. 

Oh, and as I teach psychology, I use "Osmus" as an example of a neologism 

Thanks again!


----------



## GrissTheGnome

Do me a solid apologize to Shanna, I meant to ask more questions during her AMA but life got in the way.  I'm very excited about No Thank You Evil, I've been looking for my first RPG's for awhile now that I have spawn.  How similar are the Cypher and NTYE systems, for example if for some reason I wanted by NTYE character to guest star in a Strange game, can that happen?


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## Fiery James

*Just saying hey*

No question, just saying hey! Really missed going to GenCon this year and catching up!  Wish the ends of our countries were much closer to one another. 

-JB


----------



## Mark Cleveland

I think I most enjoyed the insights into the culmination of your life's work that is the formation of MCG. Thanks again for volunteering your time to answer our questions.

1. I began developing a game system six years ago which is uncannily similar to the Cypher System (CS) in many baffling ways. That being said, its task resolution is also influenced heavily by the same in Apocalypse World. I understand that game mechanics themselves are generally unprotected by copyright or patent law, while the artistic expression thereof is. I also understand you are not a lawyer, but I think if anyone would have a firm idea of what should be my actual concerns as a developer, it would probably be you. 

Given that:
(a) this would be my first step into professional game development, and 
(b) my design goals and mechanics for gameplay I was developing, are satisfied for the most part by CS, and 
(c) while my setting is certainly far different, there are thematic similarities to the Ninth World setting, and
(d) most, if not all, of the arguably-innovations I developed could probably be handled as Options in a CS-licensed product

Would I be wiser to seek licensing of the CS (instead of finishing my game system and giving credit where due)?

2. Now that games like Shotguns & Sorcery and Vurt are on their way, would it be fair to say that the floodgates are opening with regards to the full license option for CS?

3. Upon what factors do you place the most importance when making the decision to allow a full license of the CS? 

4. Probably answered above, but could a small (or new) developer such as me ever hope to obtain that license?


----------



## Melfast

Monte,

Really enjoyed meeting you and your team at GenCon and had a blast running Mastadon. I've run con games for several systems now, and it was the best designed one out of the ones I've done and a lot of fun.  I particularly enjoyed the non-combat encounters that helped create the feeling of the environment for the players (left vague to avoid spoilers).

I have one rule clarification question I want to sneak in now that the CSR is out (and presumably is the most up to date version of the rules), and it concerns using powers after you've run out of points in your pool.  The CSR refers to using points from other pools when damage exceeds the appropriate pool value (you take more damage than you have Might points and it rolls over into your Speed pool, for example), and says that only points from the appropriate pool can be used when an ability has a point cost. 

When this question came up online, you indicated in a Google Plus post (copied at the end below) that a character can use Might points to power an esotery when she runs out of intellect points (follow the pool spend in order : Might, Speed, Intellect, Might, Speed). I was hoping this corner case rule would be clarified in the CSR (or as an optional rule), including what edge is used when you pull points from a different pool (Might edge when using Might to power an esotery or Intellect edge since it is an Intellect ability?).

With the benefit of another year of testing and playing, what is the "official" rule in this case and what edge would you apply? 

Thanks much.

[Post copied from Google Plus question started by nolinquisitor: Monte Cook, May 21, 2014:  "It's the intent of the rules that points come out of pools in a certain order of operation, but that as long you obey that order of operation, you can keep spending points. It's just like with damage: you lose points from your Might, and when you have no Might, they come from Speed, and when you have no Speed they come from Intellect.

This means that while yes, esotery power (and Effort associated with that power) comes from Intellect, if you have no Intellect, it comes from Strength. And if you have no Strength, it comes from Speed. So that means someone could indeed harm or even kill themselves by performing esoteries (or other abilities) over and over."]


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## Monte At Home

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> I'm one of the DMs/players in the campaigns Emus is participating in. Love the book and the setting.
> 
> 1) Beyond the Emperor of the Church declaring himself the Emperor of the Tarsisian Empire, how did the succession crisis play out in your campaigns? I'm ramping up the church intrigue in our campaign, with a push-back over the Emperor of the Church's move coming in our next adventure.
> 
> <strike>2) Obviously, the Big Book is VERY big, and there's Secrets of the Delvers Guild and more Ptolus stuff sprinkled through your other Malhavoc works (all of which I think I've tracked down) and some modules for other companies. Is there any chance of additional Ptolus stuff coming, even if it's just a data dump of your old setting info, either in a commercial format or on a blog or the like? This many years in, we've had a lot of fun making the setting our own -- as Emus said, we've had a lot of fun with Uraq and I've run a long-running campaign based on the Prustan Peninsula -- but we'd love more content.</strike> (Asked and answered, sorry.)
> 
> 3) The Castain/Lothian stuff is great. It offers pseudo-Catholicism for those who want to run medieval church plots without, I think, offending too many players. But it's also VERY dark once you start looking at all the aspects of the story. Is there a definitive "truth" of who Castain is/was and how Lothian factors into it? Likewise, if most of the Castainite clergy just flipped over to Lothianite clergy, does that mean anything about the sincerity of their worship or the possibility of a Castanite heresy within the Church of Lothian?
> 
> 4) Beyond Countless Doorways is one of those books that has links to Ptolus. Is it intended to be the official cosmology for Praemal, or was that just a fun thing to add on after the fact, when you were assembling that book?
> 
> Thanks for doing this. Ptolus remains one of my most prized possessions of my D&D era. I've always been sad that there were no additional volumes of the Year's Best D20, as that book is wall-to-wall greatness. (And, sadly, a number of the books that it reprints material from are impossible to find, even in PDF form now.)




1. I know it's disappointing to hear, but that was... 15 years ago or so for a lot of that stuff and it's difficult to remember. I remember that the three claimants to the throne were a big part of one of the campaigns and that there was conflict amid the PCs themselves as to who they supported. There was a climactic adventure where the PCs ended up protecting the Emperor of the Church from assassins (if you managed to track down the adventure Black Rain which was on the WotC website years ago, it was based on it) and the events of that shakeup made the Holy Emperor back down. I think that that Segaci eventually got the throne, if memory serves, which led to the Shuul becoming more powerful in the end, which became a big factor of another Ptolus campaign set some time later. But it's been a long time.

2. The big book IS a data dump of all my old setting info. I really don't have much in the way of secret, leftover stuff.

3. What I wanted was to give GMs a way to have their choice of either a monotheistic-style campaign or a polytheistic-style one. My own campaigns were very mixed. I am a fan of early history and tried to make it sort of seem like those periods where the real-world Catholic Church's influence was great but there were still plenty of people who hung onto their own gods. But of course, since it's D&D style fantasy, all the gods involved are real. I remember Zophas (played by Erik Mona), the paladin in the group was a follower of Lothian and referred to the gods worshipped by the other PCs as "demons," as the more orthodox wing of that church is likely to do. That made him real popular. 

The Castain aspect of things was something that never got a lot of prominence in my campaign... it was just one of those plot threads that the PCs never grabbed onto. I do like thinking about what happens in a D&D fantasy world where followers and priests lose faith, convert, or discover that some aspect of their religion is wrong, because in a world where religion isn't based on faith but on observation ("I can cast cleric spells, therefore my god is clearly real"), what does that all actually mean?

4. Maybe sorta, but considering that Praemal is a closed-off world, its cosmology is kind of moot.

I wish I'd started doing the Year's Best d20 thing earlier. It came kinda late in the d20 era. It was fun.


----------



## Monte At Home

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> Ooh, thought of another one: There's one or two references in Ptolus to giants being "from the west" and the like, and their realms there, which I've interpreted as the Lands of the Diamond Throne being located in the distant west, beyond Cherubar. Is this intended, or was it just a nod to that other setting, but not actually how things worked in your game?




That happened because a player really, really wanted to play an Arcana Evolved giant in a Ptolus campaign. So... more or less the idea was that the Diamond Throne was to the west, but it wasn't quite as literal as that. I guess, as you say, more of a nod.


----------



## Monte At Home

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> I've always been somewhat surprised by this. Even leaving aside the possibility of locally interesting stuff happening, you've got the wasteland of a wizard war in Kem, you've got an empire ripping itself in three with violence possible at any moment and, heck, a giant necropolis full of undead under Tarsis, which itself has recently been sacked by barbarians. Right there, that's more interesting stuff going on in more than a few published settings.
> 
> We ended up starting in the Prustan Peninsula because the Big Book literally wasn't available at that point, but even there, there's more content for that setting than we've ever fully mined in all the years we've been playing. (The tension between the Old Gods of the Prustan Peninsula and the Church of Lothian is a pretty rich vein, and we've only had one real foray into Kem, for instance.)
> 
> Did your campaigns set in the modern day of Ptolus (as opposed to the 2E era of Praemal) never stray beyond the city that much?
> 
> And, for what it's worth, the setting works well under both Pathfinder and Castles & Crusades, for all that it's built around 3E assumptions. Good stuff. Even design decisions I thought I disagreed with years ago end up, in the fullness of time, to have been really good instincts on your part (likely because they came out of actual play and not just theory).




Almost never, unless you count other dimensions. Or the moon. 

There was a series of adventures that happened in the third campaign where the PCs left the city and went into the nearby woods, dealing with the elves and other goings on there. Honestly, I don't remember why.

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm glad your group got so much out of all of it (mine did too).


----------



## Monte At Home

camilaacolide said:


> Silly question I know, but wouldn't you happen to have a copy of the original Ptolous with textured cover and cloth bookmark laying around near you? I just discovered Ptolous in recent years, and I love everything in it. The original version has become kind of a dream book for me... even more so if it comes with your autograph! I'd pay for postage and everything of course, please say yes!!!  =)




Well, I do, of course. But I'm afraid it's not for sale and won't ever be. Sorry.


----------



## kitsune9

Joining the party late:

1. Ever read any of the fan modules from your Arcana Unearthed stuff? Or any fan modules from any of your lines?
2. Any chance we'll see a book similar to Memories and Ghosts?
3. When's the next book after Of Aged Angels coming out?


----------



## Whizbang Dustyboots

Monte At Home said:


> There was a climactic adventure where the PCs ended up protecting the Emperor of the Church from assassins (if you managed to track down the adventure Black Rain which was on the WotC website years ago, it was based on it) and the events of that shakeup made the Holy Emperor back down. I think that that Segaci eventually got the throne, if memory serves, which led to the Shuul becoming more powerful in the end, which became a big factor of another Ptolus campaign set some time later. But it's been a long time.



Ironically, we've had a similar plot in our campaign: The party's paladin had a chance to join the Knights of the Dawn, but while training with the knight-aspirants in Tarsis, he discovered that one of them was actually a plant loyal to Empress Addares XXXIV, seeded there with the intention of getting into the Emperor of the Church's bodyguard so that he and his co-conspirator could betray the emperor.

By rooting out the assassins, he inadvertently chose a side, in the eyes of all three parties, which everyone will have to deal with in the coming adventures.

Thanks again for everything, including 3E, Ptolus, all your indie stuff and this AMA.


----------



## Monte At Home

Fildrigar said:


> Hey, Monte.
> 
> Back in the early days of 3e, I figuratively fell in love with one of your adventures, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was the first time I felt as if I had been exposed to a truly living dungeon, where things actually seemed to be happening in "real time" while the adventurers were adventuring. Between scripted events happening, and advice for restocking cleared areas I felt like I had finally "leveled up" as a GM. Additionally, there was a vibrant community full of incredibly creative and helpful people on your forums who were always there to offer advice for how to handle situations that arose during play. I still use the lessons I learned from running that campaign ( TWICE! ) today.
> 
> Now, I'm often asked where I learned how to better GM, and I feel like all I have to offer people is "read this out of print adventure, and have an AHA moment of your own." Do you have any specific advice, resources, or areas to send people who want to become better GMs?
> 
> Fildrigar




Well, thanks for those kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The advice I usually give is, play in a game with a good GM. You learn so much by watching someone else and seeing what they do that it's quite difficult to put in a book. But the other thing is, I tell people to just give it a try with a good group of people who are forgiving of a slip up or mistake now and again, learn from those mistakes, and pay attention to what the players want from the game, and try to give them the experience they want (that doesn't mean, of course, always letting them succeed, that's a different matter entirely).


----------



## Monte At Home

Dahak said:


> For my final questions, let's go back in time...
> 
> 1) What was it like working for ICE?
> 
> 2) Did you live in Charlottesville or were you able to work remotely in that role?
> 
> 3) Of which Hero System or Rolemaster/MERP product are you most proud from your tenure there?




1. It was great and it was awful. Great because I loved the people and I learned so so much. Awful because the company's fortunes were always on the rocks and there was nothing resembling job security or even necessarily steady paychecks.

2. I lived in Charlottesville for two years, and worked remotely for about a year (maybe two) after that.

3. Hmmm. I really, really liked Dark Space at the time, although technically that was before I started there full time. I sometimes cringe when I look back at it, but I think all writers feel that way about their early work.


----------



## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> I just wanted to say thank you to you (Monte) and to Morrus for putting this together and giving fans this kind of access. I think I have learned a lot just be reading other people's questions and seeing them answered as well as my own.
> 
> You mentioned you listen to prog metal. If you haven't checked these out, they would be 2 of my best recommendations:
> 
> Redemption: Snowfall on Judgment Day
> Symphony X: Iconoclast (Deluxe edition if possible) <- This one should be playing on Ruk!




Cool. I'm familiar with Symphony X but not Redemption. I don't listen to prog nearly as much as I used to, but I'll make a point to check them out. I bet my friend and fellow designer Rob Schwalb is familiar with them. I'll ask.


----------



## Monte At Home

jhosmer1 said:


> Last question from me: If you were going to run a Cypher game that has the PCs piloting giant robots (perhaps in some pseudo-feudal galactic empire , would you add anything to the Vehicle rules? Or would the giant robots be better as artifacts?




I would (and have!) use the vehicle rules. I think they work well because they're all about damaging systems rather than whittling down hit points, which feels more like vehicle/giant robot combat in sci fi to me.


----------



## Monte At Home

Desh-Rae-Halra said:


> Ok, a few more:
> 1. For the Numenera Character Options 2 book (on the current Kickstarter), will we see  Foci that are astronomically based,  like:
> Wields a Singularity or Manipulates Dark Matter?
> 
> 2. I was a purchaser of Kicking It. I wonder now with more KS experience if you would add other ideas to that?
> 
> I also backed at the Unique Character(s) for Numenera and they are still going strong.
> Salamandros, a Tough Jack who Exists Partially Out of Phase (I call him The Best Jack in the Game)
> and
> Vola, a Rugged Glaive Who Lives In The Wilderness.
> 
> I think it would be cool to offer these kinds of rewards on future Kickstarters. I also loved the Strange Character Cards.
> 
> Oh, and as I teach psychology, I use "Osmus" as an example of a neologism
> 
> Thanks again!




1. Very likely. But also stuff having to do with aquatic environments and interdimensional ones as well, because it will apply to the whole line. And the KS reached that goal today, so the book will be a reality! Backers will just get that added on to their stack of books. (I love that part.)

2. I still apply those rules to all my Kickstarters, so there's nothing particularly fundamental I'd add or change. I might add little bits about the pitfalls of shipping, fulfillment, and so on. The overall idea being that when you set your expected release date, plan for the absolute worst scenario, and then add a bit more time even beyond that. 

3. That's all awesome to hear!


----------



## Monte At Home

GrissTheGnome said:


> Do me a solid apologize to Shanna, I meant to ask more questions during her AMA but life got in the way.  I'm very excited about No Thank You Evil, I've been looking for my first RPG's for awhile now that I have spawn.  How similar are the Cypher and NTYE systems, for example if for some reason I wanted by NTYE character to guest star in a Strange game, can that happen?




NTYE is very much Cypher simplified, which is saying a lot since it's already a simple system. NTYE would convert "up" fairly well, though. You'd have an extra stat called Awesome, that exists to enable you to better help your friends, which doesn't exist in The Strange, but you know, maybe it should.


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## Monte At Home

Fiery James said:


> No question, just saying hey! Really missed going to GenCon this year and catching up!  Wish the ends of our countries were much closer to one another.
> 
> -JB




You were missed.


----------



## Monte At Home

Mark Cleveland said:


> I think I most enjoyed the insights into the culmination of your life's work that is the formation of MCG. Thanks again for volunteering your time to answer our questions.
> 
> 1. I began developing a game system six years ago which is uncannily similar to the Cypher System (CS) in many baffling ways. That being said, its task resolution is also influenced heavily by the same in Apocalypse World. I understand that game mechanics themselves are generally unprotected by copyright or patent law, while the artistic expression thereof is. I also understand you are not a lawyer, but I think if anyone would have a firm idea of what should be my actual concerns as a developer, it would probably be you.
> 
> Given that:
> (a) this would be my first step into professional game development, and
> (b) my design goals and mechanics for gameplay I was developing, are satisfied for the most part by CS, and
> (c) while my setting is certainly far different, there are thematic similarities to the Ninth World setting, and
> (d) most, if not all, of the arguably-innovations I developed could probably be handled as Options in a CS-licensed product
> 
> Would I be wiser to seek licensing of the CS (instead of finishing my game system and giving credit where due)?
> 
> 2. Now that games like Shotguns & Sorcery and Vurt are on their way, would it be fair to say that the floodgates are opening with regards to the full license option for CS?
> 
> 3. Upon what factors do you place the most importance when making the decision to allow a full license of the CS?
> 
> 4. Probably answered above, but could a small (or new) developer such as me ever hope to obtain that license?




1. I'd approach Charles Ryan at MCG in regards to the license. It's hard to get noticed in the world as a brand new creator, particularly if you're doing something similar to what someone else is doing but there's no direct link.

2. Not 100% sure what that means, but both of them have a full (not limited) license with us. Talk to Charles for more info.

3. Again, a Charles question.

4. Sure. It's certainly possible.


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## Monte At Home

Melfast said:


> Monte,
> 
> Really enjoyed meeting you and your team at GenCon and had a blast running Mastadon. I've run con games for several systems now, and it was the best designed one out of the ones I've done and a lot of fun.  I particularly enjoyed the non-combat encounters that helped create the feeling of the environment for the players (left vague to avoid spoilers).
> 
> I have one rule clarification question I want to sneak in now that the CSR is out (and presumably is the most up to date version of the rules), and it concerns using powers after you've run out of points in your pool.  The CSR refers to using points from other pools when damage exceeds the appropriate pool value (you take more damage than you have Might points and it rolls over into your Speed pool, for example), and says that only points from the appropriate pool can be used when an ability has a point cost.
> 
> When this question came up online, you indicated in a Google Plus post (copied at the end below) that a character can use Might points to power an esotery when she runs out of intellect points (follow the pool spend in order : Might, Speed, Intellect, Might, Speed). I was hoping this corner case rule would be clarified in the CSR (or as an optional rule), including what edge is used when you pull points from a different pool (Might edge when using Might to power an esotery or Intellect edge since it is an Intellect ability?).
> 
> With the benefit of another year of testing and playing, what is the "official" rule in this case and what edge would you apply?
> 
> Thanks much.
> 
> [Post copied from Google Plus question started by nolinquisitor: Monte Cook, May 21, 2014:  "It's the intent of the rules that points come out of pools in a certain order of operation, but that as long you obey that order of operation, you can keep spending points. It's just like with damage: you lose points from your Might, and when you have no Might, they come from Speed, and when you have no Speed they come from Intellect.
> 
> This means that while yes, esotery power (and Effort associated with that power) comes from Intellect, if you have no Intellect, it comes from Strength. And if you have no Strength, it comes from Speed. So that means someone could indeed harm or even kill themselves by performing esoteries (or other abilities) over and over."]




The official rule is the rule as written in CSR. But as you can see from the answer you've copied, in my own games I do allow this. But there's NO edge when you do so, so it's really costly. This only really comes up with sort of "we've got to pull off this one last task or we're all going to die!" kind of situations. It's happened in a game I've run... maybe twice. Three times at the most. I'd hesitate to make it an official rule because it would get overused, I think.


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## Monte At Home

kitsune9 said:


> Joining the party late:
> 
> 1. Ever read any of the fan modules from your Arcana Unearthed stuff? Or any fan modules from any of your lines?
> 2. Any chance we'll see a book similar to Memories and Ghosts?
> 3. When's the next book after Of Aged Angels coming out?




1. Not really. I don't have time to go looking for that stuff. I can barely keep up with all the "official" stuff. I do like to see people's reports of how their game went posted on social media or whatever from time to time. It's gratifying to hear that people are having a good time.

2. No plans, but that would be really cool.

3. Well, WotC of course owns the Dark Matter property, so I guess you'd have to ask them. It is exciting that our latest Kickstarter includes the first Numenera novel, though. It's written by Shanna Germain. Who knows, maybe we'll reach a point where we release more...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-into-the-ninth-world


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## Monte At Home

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> Ironically, we've had a similar plot in our campaign: The party's paladin had a chance to join the Knights of the Dawn, but while training with the knight-aspirants in Tarsis, he discovered that one of them was actually a plant loyal to Empress Addares XXXIV, seeded there with the intention of getting into the Emperor of the Church's bodyguard so that he and his co-conspirator could betray the emperor.
> 
> By rooting out the assassins, he inadvertently chose a side, in the eyes of all three parties, which everyone will have to deal with in the coming adventures.
> 
> Thanks again for everything, including 3E, Ptolus, all your indie stuff and this AMA.




Awesome! Thanks for the kind words.


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## Monte At Home

With that, I'm going to have to draw this to a close. It's been a lot of fun--lots of walks down memory lane--and lots of good questions. I really appreciate your time, and all the very kind words. Gamers are awesome.

I do hope you'll check out my new work. You can find that ongoing at www.montecookgames.com and the Kickstarter for Into the Ninth World goes until the second week in September. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-into-the-ninth-world

Thanks again, and have a great weekend.


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## Barendd Nobeard

Monte At Home said:


> Hey Kent! How's it going?
> 
> If memory serves, this all played into how I'd taken the G- and D- module series and turned them on their heads. The giants were manipulating the drow to rise up in the Underdark and foment trouble. All of that made Lolth vulnerable, and I think Vlondril ultimately wanted to take out Lolth.
> 
> Probably with the help of the Old Ones. I think she was a secret (?) cultist.
> 
> But it's been a while.




Doing well. Thanks for asking!

And thanks for the answer. It was a question that would cross my mind occasionally.


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## Erechel

One question about D&D 5th edition: is there any plans yet to publish the books in Spanish? There is a whole community of players waiting for it. I even offer my services (even for free) to edit the books after all, I've been translating unofficially several AD&D handbooks to my friends prior the Internet age, when the books weren't available in every store.


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## Morrus

Erechel said:


> One question about D&D 5th edition: is there any plans yet to publish the books in Spanish? There is a whole community of players waiting for it. I even offer my services (even for free) to edit the books after all, I've been translating unofficially several AD&D handbooks to my friends prior the Internet age, when the books weren't available in every store.




Monte is at Monte Cook Games, not Wizards of the Coast. Plus the AMA ended ages ago.


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