|
[
Chat Transcript ]
Monte
and Sean Chat About Ghostwalk
 On
Sean's recent visit from San Diego, he and Monte -- codesigners
on the new D&D setting Ghostwalk
-- got together in our office -- and in our chat room! They
spent an hour on June 26 answering your questions about
the book. Thanks to all of you who attended! We also are
grateful for Carthain's moderating skills, as always. (Thanks
for sending us this transcript*, too!)
Carthain:
Welcome to a Malhavoc Press Chat! Today we are chatting
with Monte Cook and Sean K. Reynolds. The topic of today
is Ghostwalk, a new campaign option from Wizards
of the Coast.
SeanKR:
I apologize for any typos, I am on Sue's computer and I
have to get used to the QWERTY keyboard again. :/
Monte:
Yeesh. He's got an excuse for everything.
SeanKR:
:P
Carthain:
Alright everyone -- send in your questions! ^_^ From Elsin:
Are there any plans for a web enhancement relating to Ghostwalk
and compatibility with Arcana Unearthed?
SeanKR:
Well, officially we're not allowed to do anything like that,
since Malhavoc Press doesn't own Ghostwalk. So that's
probably a no, barring really strange circumstances.
Monte:
Really, though, there's little to stop you from using them
together. Thematically, they could work just fine.
SeanKR:
I know as much about Arcana Unearthed as you guys
do, so I'll take Monte's word on that. :)
Carthain:
From Nightfall: "Hey Monte and Sean! Any chance we'll
see you guys working on a Planescape project or perhaps
maybe another book like Anger
of Angels?"
Monte:
We have no plans to produce such a product together. ;)
Carthain:
From n-devita_d20MR: "Why did Wizards of the Coast
want to drop such a fantastic book initially?"
SeanKR:
Heh heh heh... Well, to be totally honest, remember that
WotC is owned by Hasbro... And at the time, Hasbro wasn't
interested in anything that couldn't be transferred to other
media, such as TV. So Monte and I finished the book, and
heard a couple of months later from the Wizards brand team
that they were putting Ghostwalk on hold because
some folks at Hasbro felt they couldn't make a TV show about
ghosts and dead people in a city. Fortunately, at some point
late last year they decided to put it back on the schedule
-- probably more to fill a hole there and because publishing
it after the 3.5 D&D rules revision wouldn't make sense.
(On that last bit, I just finished the 3.5 conversion forGhostwalk,
which'll be posted on the D&D site after the new rules
come out.)
Monte:
The extra irony of the whole thing is that Ghostwalk
came about because Wizards of the Coast decided to let the
creative people in their R&D section develop a product
all of their own. Sean and I were selected to come up with
the idea and write the book. And then Wizards cancels/postpones
the book.
SeanKR:
... and then the book publishing department decides to have
their setting search contest.... :P
Carthain:
From Zero: "How long did it take to flesh out the setting,
and what inspired some of the interesting twists like the
importance of bards?"
Monte:
I worked on Ghostwalk probably a total of about five
months, but some of that time was just "concept"
time while I finished d20 Call of Cthulhu. In that
time, I worked up Manifest, some of the other setting parts,
the organizations, and about half the adventures.
SeanKR:
As for the bard stuff, I was trying to address some of the
lesser-used classes in the game, and designed the nearby
countries to that those classes would have specific roles.
The "arts" sections stemmed from my actor/singer/dancer
girlfriend, and a lot of that stems from ideas she had from
reading the country backgrounds.
Carthain:
From cetiken: "Why did you decide to limit ghosts to
only being humanoid? The MM didn't make that distinction."
Monte: Basically, we didn't want Manifest filled
with aboleths, dragons, and umber hulks. It was a rules
decision, but it was made to preserve the flavor.
SeanKR:
Or ghost versions of those, at least. :)
Monte:
It was a rules decision, but it was made to preserve the
flavor.
Carthain:
From me: "Who wrote which parts? Or was there a lot
of collaboration and it's hard to segregate it?"
SeanKR:
Monte says it's my turn to answer this question.... :) We
worked together on the concepting and a lot of the basic
ideas. Monte then worked on the city, its history, the city
politics, deities, the two big adventures, and bits and
pieces elsewhere. I did much of the rules section, the countries,
the monsters, the encounter sites, and the stuff about what
happens Beyond the Veil (more on that later as a different
topic).
Carthain:
From Havoc: "How do you feel about being able to play
as a ghost cheapening death? Not that it isn't already pretty
trivial with resurrection."
Monte:
Well, it was our feeling that death in D&D already isn't
like death in the real world, or even death in fantasy fiction.
In fact, that's one of the core concepts we wanted to play
around with. Since death in D&D is often just an inconvenience
rather than an end, what if we changed it from an inconvenience
to an opportunity?
SeanKR:
That pretty much sums it up. We wanted a campaign where
death didn't mean you'd have to stop playing, and we address
the "trivializing of death" in the book, too.
:)
Monte:
There are still dangers and threats in the Ghostwalk
world, though. It's just a different spin on things.
Carthain:
Here's one I missed earlier: From Jawsh, "Sean, QWERTY
keyboards not normal? What kind of keyboard do you have?"
SeanKR:
I use the Dvorak layout. It looks weird, but now I'm at
least twice as fast as typing on it, and it's designed to
be less rough on the wrists (I have borderline tendonitis).
Carthain:
From Zero: "Why is art and singing stressed in the
setting?"
SeanKR:
Well, it helps differentiate each culture a little more,
and makes their bards more interesting, too. After all,
not all bards are your typical medieval minstrel singing
"Brave Sir Robin" in a tavern.
Monte:
It also helps us differentiate Ghostwalk a bit, so that
it's not "just another fantasy setting/city" but
with ghosts.
Carthain:
From Elsin: "Did Wizards of the Coast make any changes
to Ghostwalk that upset either of you?"
SeanKR:
They lost a map.... ;)
Carthain:
Lost?
SeanKR:
Seriously, though, there were very few changes made to the
book. As for the map, there was originally going to be a
poster map, but when they revived it, they cut that. They
remembered to move the city map to the interior, but forgot
to do the same for the map of nearby countries. Wizards
is going to post the map (assuming they have it, if not
they'll have one drawn from my original).
Carthain:
Oh sure, pre-empt the next question ^_^ ... From Jawsh:
"Sean, are we going to get to see the map that got
left out?"
SeanKR:
See above. :)
Carthain:
From Zero: "Why Yuan-ti?"
Monte:
Because they're cool.
SeanKR:
Ayep. :) And we needed a living enemy so all fights wouldn't
be with undead or ghosts.
Carthain:
From Josh: "Is Ghostwalk a shot in the Pan or
will it be a supported campaign setting?"
Monte:
I don't think, beyond some web support, that you'll see
more products. If it's wildly successful, that might change.
It was always meant to be a standalone thing, though.
SeanKR:
As originally intended, it's a one-shot. But there's the
web support, and Dragon has made some noises about
an article....
Carthain:
From Antihero: "What were the inspirations behind Ghostwalk?
Did these include mythologies or movies (Ghostbusters...)?"
Monte:
A lot of people assume Wraith influenced us, but
despite the fact that the old developer at WW was a friend
of mine, I never read it.
SeanKR:
Me neither.
Monte:
I'd say Neil Gaiman was an influence.
SeanKR:
And Steven Brust. (Oh, I read Wraith once.
The setting part.)
Monte:
And just a lot of myths about "the land of the dead."
Orpheus is an obvious influence--he walked down into the
land of the dead through a cave. Not unlike the Ghostwalk.
SeanKR:
Greek and Norse myths both have physical connection to the
land of the dead.
Carthain:
From cetiken: "Why is the first thing you consider
when creating a detailed city full of politics and factions?"
Monte:
The first thing I think of is, what do all these people
want? What is the main goal of each, and do they conflict?
If they conflict, then you've got something interesting.
I always try to remember that organizations are made up
of individuals, and politics is driven by individuals, so
you really can treat them almost like you'd treat coming
up with some NPCs.
Carthain:
From n-devita_d20MR: "Was The Calling a base idea or
a balance issue stumbled across?"
SeanKR:
Balance and story, but mainly it was there to answer the
question, "Why would you ever NOT be a ghost?"
If a ghost was always better with no drawbacks, nobody would
play a living character.
Monte:
It is a very cool story point, though, I think.
Carthain:
From Nightfall: "Orcus question for Monte: I noticed
in the Book of Vile Darkness you said Orcus wasn't
a deity, yet in the Ghostwalk he is. How you explain
this dichotomy?"
Monte:
They're two different books. Orcus serves two very different
purposes in those books. In the Book of Vile Darkness,
he's a campaign-ender. When you get up to epic levels, you
can take him on. In Ghostwalk, he's a catalyst for
a lot of the events and plots, but it's far less likely
that you'll duke it out with him. However, the nice thing
is, since we're not writing books or TV scripts here, the
DM can have the freedom to choose whichever he wants (and
I'll point out that in the Book of Vile Darkness
it does give the option for making all of the demon lords
gods).
Carthain:
From T-H-E: "Why didn't Sean bring his own keyboard?
:p"
Monte:
Yeah!
SeanKR:
I left my laptop in the hotel. :P I talk too much anyway.
:P
Carthain:
From THE: "Considering Manifest's two undercities,
the close proximity of these massive dungeon environments,
was Ptolus a significant inspiration for Ghostwalk?"
Monte:
Probably. It's true that when it came time to divvy up the
work, Sean basically said, "Well, you're the city guy."
I really like politics-laden fantasy cities with nearby
dungeon type environments built on older cities. Shrug.
SeanKR:
But we deliberately left some Ptolus elements (such as firearms)
out of Ghostwalk so the two would remain distinct.
Monte:
Yeah, the similarities do end at the basics.
Carthain:
From Isida: "Monte and Sean, which is your favorite
Ghostwalk magic item?"
Monte:
I like the figurine of wondrous power that is a pearl
octopus. Probably because I have lots of octopi sitting
around my computer. (Toy octopi.)
SeanKR:
I like the blood/flesh of Orcus (because turning
into undead is fun and gross), and the skullmarbles
(because they're cute).
Monte:
I was thinking about the flesh of Orcus too.
Carthain:
From Zero: "What was the reasoning behind making elves
different?"
SeanKR:
By different you mean, "They don't go to the True Afterlife"?
Carthain:
<Zero> yeah
SeanKR:
Well, it sorta hearkens back to 1st Edition AD&D where
elves had spirits instead of souls (like other humanoids)
and reincarnated. We wanted to preserve some of that soul-differentness.
Monte:
It gave us the whole elven wood around the city which gave
us more than just a city environment to have adventures.
It was really a flavor issue
Carthain:
From Zero: "Why is there only one "core"
eidolon class?"
SeanKR:
Heh. At first we were just going to have the eidolon. But
playtesters and other people felt that meant that spellcasters
had fewer options to become ghosts. So we cut out some of
the bonus feats and added spellcasting levels, making the
eidoloncer. I still wanted to have the primary focus for
ghosts to be their ghost powers, so by making the eidoloncer
an "option" that gives a slight push in that direction.
Carthain:
From cetiken: "Why don't more books have bibliographies?"
SeanKR:
Sometimes they're cut for space. Anger of Angels
has one, but if space is tight it'll be cut and probably
posted on the web.
Monte:
Good question. I like to cite my inspirations when I can,
but at the same time I roll my eyes when authors go overboard
in their own introductions: "This is the music I listened
to when writing this," and stuff like that.
Carthain:
From Zero: "Was the new approach to the deities (all
being related to death in some manner) a difficult thing
to create?"
Monte:
Not really. It was fun, actually. I love to take conventions
and turn them on their ear, so creating good gods of death
was interesting. It was also interesting to play up the
different outlooks on death. I did something similar in
the upcoming Diamond Throne,
where I created a religion/philosophy that's all about the
fear of death.
SeanKR:
And having benign gods of death does have a historical precedent
(Egypt), so it's not unheard of. But I like the three variants
Monte made for the book. :)
Carthain:
From AvonRekaes: "Could a ghost fight his own corpse
that was made into undead?"
Monte:
Yes!
SeanKR:
Certainly! The original cover art concept was a ghost confronting
a lich, who was guarded by a zombie of the ghost's own body.
:)
Carthain:
Cool. Okay, last question... From Zero: "While Ghostwalk
doesn't seem to be designed as a 'gruesome' setting, the
fact is that most of the ghosts that PCs will deal with
(or themselves be) are dead adventures: the ones that look
"icky". What tone of setting where you shooting
for?"
SeanKR:
We wanted a place where dead was, if not normal, it was
at least accepted. And before development there were people
who thought we should rework the city so it would be grim
and filled with souls awaiting punishment, but we talked
them out of that ... we already had the Ravenloft setting.
Ghostwalk needed to be different.
Monte:
My take on it is that Ghostwalk is sort of "cemetery
creepy", in that cemeteries are full of dead people,
yet they're accepted by everyone. We didn't want it to be
a horror setting. Or a depressing one.
Carthain:
Alright, well, that's it then. Thank you, everybody, for
attending and asking the questions.
Monte:
Well, we have a copy of the book to give away
Carthain:
Oh right.
SeanKR:
So it's going to someone who doesn't have a copy, preferably.
:)
Carthain:
heh
Carthain:
So how do we want to go about doing it?
Monte:
Give us a second and we'll come up with a D&D trivia
question. The first person to answer it right wins the book.
It'd be cool if people who already have it stay out of the
contest.
Anonymouse:
Aww, D&D trivia? I'd suggest something like, "What
ear is Monte wearing his earring in?"
Carthain:
Monte, ask the question, then I'll open the room and let
people shout out the answers.
Monte:
OK.
SeanKR:
Sure.
Monte:
Here's the question: In pre-3rd Edition, how many years
did you age if you saw a ghost?
<Nightfall>
10!
<Rampage> 10
<n-devita_d20MR> 42 - it's the answer to everything
in the universe
<THE> 10
<cetiken> 10
<Isida> 10
<Zero> Left ear! wait....
<Elsin> 1
<cetiken> 3
<Antihero> 6
<Nightfall> 7
<Nightfall> 20
<Zero> 4?
Monte:
10 years is correct.
Nightfall:
Yeah!!!
Monte:
Nightfall, send me an email with your address.
SeanKR:
Woohoo! Free stuff!
Carthain:
Congrats, Nightfall ^_^
Monte:
Congratulations.
SeanKR:
I wish I got free stuff....
Carthain:
Sean: But you get to give free stuff! It's like being santa
^_~
SeanKR:
(Nightfall, you owe me $35 for the book....)
Monte:
Well, thanks for coming, everyone! This has been fun.
SeanKR:
Thanks, and sorry I was late. :p
*
Transcript edited for style and clarity.
Back
to Monte's News Archive Page
/ Back
to Monte's Home Page
|
