Malhavoc Press

Mindscapes Chat Transcript Featuring Bruce Cordell

May 8, 2003 -- 5 p.m. PST

Bruce Cordell entertained fans in our very own chat room earlier this month, answering your questions about the new print edition of Mindscapes, the world of psionics, and more. Thanks to everyone who attended this chat, as well as room moderator Matt Locke for making it happen, as always, and for sharing this transcript* with us.

<Carthain> Welcome to a Malhavoc Press Chat! Today we are chatting with Bruce Cordell. So if anyone has any questions for Bruce, just send them to me by typing: /msg Carthain this is my question.

<Carthain> From erekose13: "This has been a great year for Bruce Cordell, having three products out under the Malhavoc banner. What can we expect to see later this year?"

<BruceC> Actually, except for the print release of When The Sky Falls, that should about tap me out this year for Malhavoc, unless I'm forgetting something. I will have some things coming out through Wizards... but I'm not sure what those products are, offhand.

<Carthain> From ZL: "is there any chance psionics will ever be included in the Player's Handbook?"

<BruceC> I think there is an excellent chance... but not this edition. Who knows what the future may bring? I'd lobby for it, but that would be a long time from now.

<Carthain> From Dark_Psion: "Any ideas on interaction between the two mental combat systems (Psionics Handbook and Mindscapes?)"

<BruceC> As in, can you do it? Well, the easiest way is to replace one with the other. The way Mindscapes does this is to make what were modes in the Psionics Handbook as straight-up powers... I could imagine a game where both combat systems might be allowed. But, it would seem like a lot of effort and time, and perhaps not a great payoff. To use both, some more rule tweaks would probably be needed. Ideally, you'd want to be able to use the original system on non-psions.

<Carthain> From erekose13: "I read in your bio in When the Sky Falls that you are due to have a second novel out this year. Sorry for my ignorance, but what was the title of the first, and what will be the title of the second?"

<BruceC> Heh heh. The title of the first was Oath of Nerull :-) The second has a working title of Lady of Poison, and won't actually be out til next year, if everything goes according to schedule. This one will have my name on it, as opposed to the first, which did not.

<Carthain> From myself: "If you could choose, in real life, to have either magic or psionics, which would you choose?"

<BruceC> Psionics -- I prefer the fluidity of the power point system :-) But, I really like magic, too. I usually play wizards, as a matter of fact. Monte doesn't have psionics in his campaign (yet).

<Bynw> I think Monte should change that in his game ... must have psionics always :-)

<Monte> (When my campaign started, there were no rules for 3rd Edition psionics.)

<BruceC> (and Monte is not a revisionist)

<Carthain> From Jasemonkey: "Have you ever considered a project, similar in scope to Arcana Unearthed, where it was a replacement for the Player's Handbook, and the world was completely psionics oriented?"

<BruceC> Actually, the Psionics Handbook is sort of that... But, it didn't have enough pages to be a complete replacement. There was not enough room for more classes or feats, or powers... You get the idea. Anyway, something with a more exotic flavor, using psionics, would be definitely a cool thing to do. But, something of such large scope is probably outside my ability to do, at least while I continue to put in hours at Wizards (which will be the case for a long time), plus work with Malhavoc in a freelance capacity. I'm really grateful to Malhavoc for the projects that I have had the opportunity to work on :-)

<Carthain> From erekose13: "In a campaign involving both magic and psionics how would you separate the two, flavour-wise?"

<BruceC> Main flavor: Magic is about trappings and ceremony, psionics is about raw ability and the character... From there, you could really go a long way in describing the types of cultures that use magic as distinct from those that use psionics. For starters, psionic cultures are not usually big on religion :-). They believe the mind suffices (of course, there are the spirituels from Mindscapes, but they idealize a godmind, not a deity).

<Carthain> From Arkenian: "Why do psions in Mindscapes have so many more power points than those in the Psionics Handbook? Is the Mindscape assumed to use up that much extra power?"

<BruceC> Well, for the same reason that Mindscapes (as well as where it originally appeared, in If Thoughts Could Kill) promulgates power scaling damage rule -- experience showed that the power points really could use additional help. The revised psion from Mindscapes has more power points because, in an ideal world, the original psion would have had that many points (in my opinion, anyway).

<Carthain> From myself: "For a project such as When the Sky Falls, or Mindscapes, how long does it take you to write it up and do research/brainstorming?"

<BruceC> First of all, because it is a freelance project on top of a day job that also involves writing, it takes more time... But, because I have the luxury of only working on projects that I really really want to for Malhavoc, and because I have the luxury of choosing a time far down the road, I can really spend quality time with every project... So, it often happens that I spend two to two and a half months on each module unit (32 pages). I may not write very much each day, but hopefully it is quality stuff.

<Monte> How long have you been working in the RPG field, Bruce?

<BruceC> My first published work was in Spacemaster II -- I think that came out in 1992.

<Monte> And what's your favorite product that you've ever worked on?

<BruceC> That's a toughie. I'd say it is a toss-up between any Malhavoc product, Killing Jar (for Alternity), Return to the Tomb of Horrors, and Bastion of Broken Souls (the best D&D adventure I've written)... but, then again, there was the Illithid trilogy... Aw, how can you make me choose!! :-)

[Pause]

<BruceC> I can't choose. ;-)

<Carthain> From Dark_Psion: "Should we even ask about a psionics 3.5 book?"

<BruceC> Well, I don't think such a thing is beyond the realm of possibility.

<Carthain> From erekose13: "A few questions from When the Sky Falls then, The ruin priest has a lot of really cool flavour to it, but I am a little worried about its sacrifice abilities, as long as the priest can get someone helpless for 1 full round he can kill them without a save. Now for the usual victim that's fine, but what about if he manages to truss up a 20th-level PC?"

<BruceC> I see where you are going with this, but usually, getting a 20th-level character helpless is a feat in and off itself. If you've already done that, then you could probably kill him anyway.

<Carthain> From Sirmeatball: "This is my question: What is your favorite psionic discipline, for both power and flavor?"

<BruceC> Metacreativity. It is the discipline that makes something from nothing. Well, from astral matter. With it, you could seemingly create anything. That astral zealot from Mindscapes is an example of the strange wackiness that this discipline can cause.

<Carthain> From Arkenian: "There have been rumors that Wizards has a psionics-heavy setting in the works, could you confirm, deny, or be suitably mysterious regarding these rumors?"

<BruceC> I can neither confirm nor deny such reports...

<Carthain> .. not surprising ^_^

<BruceC> ...but that would be totally cool if true. :-)

<Carthain> From erekose13: "Do you miss the work that you did in your chemistry field prior to getting into the gaming industry?"

<BruceC> You know, I miss it a little. If I had my science background to do over again, though, I'd probably go into atomic physics. The new field of quantum mechanics, from my lay point of view, just keeps getting more and more interesting. Entanglement.... (makes sound like Homer looking at a donut).

<Carthain> From RyanD: "With the mind flayer/illithid removed by Wizards of the Coast from the SRD, do you (and/or Monte/Malhavoc) have any plans to create a "new" psionic villain for your future OGL projects?"

<BruceC> Overall, the "mastermind" psionic threat has become an entity called the Dark Plea... But, specifically to fill the void of the mind flayer, we've created a creature called... Monte, do you have If Thoughts Could Kill handy? (looking through files)...

<Monte> ...uh... mind grub collective?

<BruceC> Yes, that's it. A swarm mind, wrapped up like a mummy, creating a single entity (per swarm). The mind grub collective is what you see when you look at If Thoughts Could Kill and see the wrapped-up creatures.

<Monte> The bloodhound dudes.

<BruceC> But, they're not related to the Dark Plea, which is an entity that exists partially in reality, but partially in dream.

<Carthain> From Dark_Psion: "Any ideas for a 3rd psionics book (Monte willing)?"

<BruceC> I wouldn't rule out a 3rd psionics book (Monte willing :-))

<Monte> Monte's willing. Bruce does great psionics books, and they are very popular.

<BruceC> But, I've got some commitments to fulfill, so such a thing wouldn't be until next year.

<Carthain> From RyanD: "Q for Bruce: What project was tougher: Being asked to pinch hit on Die Vecna, Die! or trying to design the 'first' 18 to 20 CR D&D scenario?"

<BruceC> Heh :-). Well, the Die Vecna Die thing was thrown at me out of the blue -- but it wasn't hard, just time intensive. Plus, Ryan (that's you) came up with an outline that seemed like the way to go :-) So, by far, the Bastion of Broken Souls was the harder. Mind-bending hard, especially because there was a time crunch on it. But, I'm also especially happy with it :-)

<Carthain> From Sirmeatball: "Is there any particular reason the damage dealt by psionic powers does not scale like the damage done by wizards?"

<BruceC> You know, let me rifle through something for a second... First off, they should scale, but you should have to pay for that scaling. Manifesters must pay extra for increasing the damage dealt by their powers to maintain balance between powers of different level. If you didn't have to pay more for a 9d6 freezing wave than for a 5d6 freezing wave (a 3rd-level power costing 5 power points), then the 9d6 freezing wave would cost barely more than half as much as the 9d6 baleful teleport (a 5th-level power costing 9 power points), even though both powers deal equal damage. You get the idea.

<Carthain> From erekose13: "Any future thoughts about expanding on the Dark Plea? another adventure perhaps?"

<BruceC> I'd really like to do something more with the Dark Plea. There is a very good chance (approaching unity) that the next Malhavoc project I do will have something to do with the Dark Plea, whether adventure or sourcebook. BTW, did you see the free Stuff on Monte's site? There was a free adventure seed with some Dark Plea material.

<Carthain> From RyanD: "Q for Bruce: You built a detailed backstory that you wove into many D&D products without being blatantly obvious about it. Have you managed to put any of that stuff into 3rd Edition D&D materials?"

<BruceC> Actually, not as many as I'd like (grin). But, the Manual of the Planes makes good on a premise introduced in my very first D&D product (Gates of Firestorm Peak), which is an entry on the plane called the Far Realm. :-)

<Carthain> From BigJake: "this is my question... With the changes to spells like "haste" and "harm", will there be a change to "schism" and "disintegrate"?"

<BruceC> If an opportunity presents itself, then yes, psionic versions would also vary. Disintegrate would be just like whatever the new version of disintegrate might be, if different from 3.0, though.

<Carthain> From Arkenian: "Why do psions need to pay for scaling when mages do not? Is it because of the increased flexibility in the power point system?"

<BruceC> See above... but short answer, yes. Mages can always only cast a limited number of their highest-level spells, and a set number of spells at every level. There is no need to enforce a "scaling" rule because of these limitations.

<Carthain> From Ika: "Speaking of the Far Realm, do you have plans for it in any upcoming products?"

<BruceC> Far Realm... I always keep my eye out for opportunities :-) But, at this point, I think I may be doing a different story threat for 3.0+. If given the chance to do more "adventury" material, I'd like to link some of the themes of Bastion to other products. And, now that I think of it, I have, though I don't think I can name that product here because it hasn't shown up yet in a Wizards of the Coast catalog.

<Carthain> From Jasemonkey: "What were your personal experiences with psionics before 3rd Edition? Good or bad?"

<BruceC> Generally good. I had played some psionic characters in the past (once, with Monte DMing, I had my mind blast power forcibly removed from my character's mind, by a villain made expressly for that purpose! (Actually, it might have been my 1st edition psionic ability to go ethereal at will -- I can't imagine why Monte had a problem with that!)... I had good experiences adapting the 2nd Edition Illithiad and subsequent three illithid adventures to psionics. I guess that experience landed me the job of doing the 3.0 psionics book.

<Carthain> Okay.. that's the end of the questions for tonight. Thank you, Bruce and Monte, for showing up, and thank you everyone else for showing up with the questions.

* Transcript edited for style and clarity.