Zak's questions, with answers

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
The setting of my best game to date - the one this blog was created for.


2. When was the last time you GMed?
Last Saturday.


3. When was the last time you played?
What, four months ago...?


4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
In 1812 the USA declares war on England - your farms and families are near the border, and rumours about an American army marching north has reached you.


5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Engage one of them in game-related conversation/one-on-one roleplaying, or contemplate what's going on behind the scenes.


6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
I'm not much of a snacker while playing, but I may have a nibble if something strikes my fancy.


7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
No, I usually walk away from the table invigorated (sometimes also intoxicated).


8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
When the clone Agent Cordac plotted a clone rebellion within the NWO.


9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
My games are mostly serious, but pretty much every session has it's moments of, often slapstick, comedy.


10. What do you do with goblins?
I try to give them some love. I try to make the band/horde/kingdom distinct and believable. 


11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
It's been a while since my last regular game, so I'll go with a big one from last year and a smaller one that's still on the drawing board: The former was the Siege of Malta, the latter the War of 1812.


12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
When the 5th level paladin boldly, and without hesitation, charged the hydra on the bridge. When I ask the player to roll initiative, he asks, "how many heads did you say it had again?" "Nine," I say calmly. The light going out of  his eyes was priceless.


13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
Geist: The Sineaters. I was looking into implementing them as a template in the Argos setting.


14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
Tough call, but the first one that comes to mind is Jamie Jones.


15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
Nah. The people I play with are too jaded by now, and I don't really focus on scaring the crap out of them anymore.


16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
I haven't run something out of a box/book since I was seventeen.


17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
A room no one else needs to walk through or be in while the game is running, that has enough room for a good sized table, shelves for game books, and a music system. A fridge is nice too.


18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Ars Magica and the old Swedish game Western.


19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Factual history and anything that looks interesting in modern fiction.


20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Someone able to contribute constructively to the group.


21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Training with a medieval re-enactment group when I was younger permanently changed how I run combat sequences. 


22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
The Perfect System.


23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
I had some brilliant talks with my dad on the subject last time he visited.


Zak's original questionnaire here: [LINK]


[Picture source: Examiner]